AIMS Canada

PR and Surveys: Looking for Best Practices

AIMS member Robert Mendelson, Executive VP at Select Blinds Canada sends in the following question...

We're thinking of conducting a survey for PR purposes--we'll publish the results in hopes of them getting picked up by media outlets across Canada and getting our name/site mentioned as often as possible as the sponsors of the survey.

Can anyone who has done this before provide some guidance as to best practices, pitfalls to avoid, checklists for execution, recommendations for getting the survey results out with maximum impact, etc?

Anyone have any suggestions/guidance for Robert?

Third Tuesday PR Meetup With Shel Israel

It was a packed house at the  Pour House last night as 50+ PR and marketing folks gathered for the inaugarul ThirdTuesday Social Media and PR meetup. Shel Israel and Mark Evans took the stage and kicked off what turned into a very lively conversation. There's a very detailed summary over at ProPR.

Shel is the author of Naked Conversations and is currently working on his next book about global neighbourhoods. He spoke at an AIMS event back in February and it was nice to see him back in the T dot last night.

I was sitting near the back and it was a little hard to hear. But as the organizers (I think it was Joe) pointed out, it was totally apropos that our conversation was happening in the midst of a sea of conversations. The tidbits I walked away with:

• Geography is no longer relevant. The result is many people bringing their own culture and perspective to the conversation.
• Listening is as important as talking when participating in the conversation. As we push messages out we need to listen to what's coming back.
• We're still very early days in the social media scene. This point has been reinforced for me over the last couple of weeks. In the weeks leading up to our event with Shel Holtz last week I spoke to a lot of marketing folks about social media and the impact it's having. During many of these conversations it became clear that the term, social media just isn't well understood yet.

A casual environment and a great group of people meant lots of interesting conversations. After sharing a pizza with Jim Courtney from Skype Journal I caught up with AIMS volunteer Michelle Tampoya. It was great to spend some face time with Michelle as she cochairs the marketing and promotions committee for AIMS events and we've had many online chats.

Oh, and I met Michael O'Connor Clarke, the first person I've met who not only works for his first life client in Second Life but is compensated in Linden dollars. The lines continue to blur...

How to Pitch the Media - a free ebook from Tod Maffin

Thanks to AIMS member Judy Gombita from the Certified General Accountants of Ontario for pointing me to this post on the Trafcom News’ blog about Tod Maffin’s free e-book, “How To Pitch the Media.” (Donna Papacosta is a colleague and friend of Judy’s. Donna is an accomplished podcaster and apparently a huge fan of Tod Maffin and his work.)

Tod Maffin, a national broadcaster, podcaster, and futurist wrote this book because he was “frustrated at the lousy quality of pitches that companies and p.r. people were making”.

If you’re trying to get media attention this inside perspective from someone who is constantly being pitched might be the most useful 15 pages you read. Tod highlights what to include in a pitch, how to talk to the media, and follows it all up with an example of a successful pitch. It’s short, easy to read, and a ‘must download’ before your next pitch.