Archives for May 2013

Anatomy Of Feel-Good PR Stories

05/14/2013 By Jayme Soulati

advocacy.britannica.com

The single-best place to find the single-best headlines in addition to feel-good PR stories is the bottom feature story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Within these pieces are sensational and zany stories about topics you can’t imagine. Today’s story is one of the best feel-good features I’ve seen there in awhile as it melds the rough and tough U.S. Marine Corps with the desert tortoise.

Yes, our nation’s military dual as conservationists. Hard to believe, eh?

The Story

On a training exercise in the deserts of California, in Twentynine Palms to be exact, the troops were charging a hill and shooting at targets until one of the softer-hearted screamed “tortoise alert!” (Those last four words are speculation.)

The exercise ceased and the turtle doctor was called to the scene; he’s part of “a little-known army of biologists and other scientists who manage the Mojave desert tortoise and about 420 other threatened and endangered species on about 28 million acres of federally managed military land.”

When the tortoises are scared, they pee themselves. I’m only telling you that so I can use this word I’ve never seen from the story…”an unplanned micturition can cause dehydration and even death.” (The best explanation for that is the turtle wets the bed, and BTW? My spell check did not like that word.)

So, the biologist shows the Marines how to soak the reptiles in water until they drink enough to carry on. Apparently, these desert dwellers don’t need a drink for about two years, and when they dribble from fear, their supply of water is exhausted.

Elements of a Good PR Story

Let’s look at why this story works for national news:

Endangered species protected on federal reserves
A team of biologists functioning within the military under a bit of secret cover
The Marine Corps doing drills in the Mojave desert
The Marine Corp as conservationists; ceasing all ops until the tortoise families are safely moved to distances away from training sites.
Background about the reptile and its habits (the water factoids)

And, that really good headline tops it off, “The Few, the Proud, the Tortoises: Marines Protect Endangered Species; An Army of Biologists Are on Nature Patrol at Military Bases; ‘Walking Ravioli’

Your Good PR Story

Considering trying for national news with a good media relations professional? Here are some elements you can’t be without:

Hard news with a soft news twist
Current events angle; news that ties in with world affairs
Data: could be new research, patterns of behavior
Third-party Spokesperson: academic, scientist or other expert to vouch for the data
Consumer: Person who receives the service, uses the product with a good story
Company executive: Someone with the Message Map in hand who can present the company in proper light

The final item on your list is to have a professional pitch this to national media. It will be a huge challenge if you try to do it yourself.

By Jayme Soulati

The Happy Friday Series: Spring Does Come To New England

05/10/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Credit: Michelle Quillin

Do the changing seasons affect your moods, and by proxy, your productivity and creativity? If you live in an area of the world where winter means months of early darkness, cold nights, and endless bouts of ice and snow, you know all about the winter doldrums. You may even suffer from depression directly tied to the seasons.

I was raised in the deep south, where the seasons are marked not by changing weather, but by major holidays and celebrations. Christmas and New Year’s Eve come in the winter, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter signal spring, the Fourth of July is a summer celebration, and Halloween and Thanksgiving mark autumn. But while holidays and celebrations are a great source of joy for most of us, they’re a harbinger of deep sadness for others, a reminder of loss, or of what’s missing from their lives. Now, tie those winter holidays to a dreary New England winter, and you’ve got a recipe for a real darkness of spirit.

My junior year of high school, my family moved from Georgia to Rhode Island, where I first discovered seasons marked not by holidays and celebrations, but by s eagulls and sailboats in summer, vibrant palettes of gold, red, and orange leaves in the fall, and blankets of deep snow, ice skating, and sledding in the winter.

For many, though, winter isn’t a time for fun, or for the joy of playing outdoors in the long-awaited snow. Instead, winter brings a shutting down, a closing in, and a sleepy, dark hibernation of the soul. And like the trials and hardships that come into every life, winter seems to go on and on, for far too long. The clouds hang heavy and low…

But then, enter spring! Glorious spring! Harbinger of life!

With spring comes the first signs of new birth budding on the barren, storm-battered trees, and sprouting from the still-cold ground, covered in dead debris left there from the previous fall.

Spring in New England brings with it the sights, sounds, and smells of new beginnings. A promise of the veil lifting. A sense of renewal, of opportunity, of change. Change that heralds good.

Resurrection.

A New England spring reminds us that no matter how long or dark a season of life may be, there is always hope. Because just as spring follows winter, after darkness comes light.

Things always get better.

Always.

And hope? It springs eternal.

Credit: Michelle Quillin

What does spring mean for you?

About The Author

Michelle Quillin is chief connectivity officer of New England Multimedia and writes a blog at New England Multimedia. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook as one of the best around for engagement strategies and search engine optimization.

Mother’s Day Gifts For Grandma

05/09/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Sometimes grandmas need a gift that’s just a little different than regular moms. That’s why this list has been curated. These are gifts for my mom who also duals as grandma to seven sibling kidlets.

If you’re still shopping for mom, Carolyn Nicander-Mohr has an awesome list over at the Wonder of Tech where she writes an amazing blog you shouldn’t miss ever.

So, let’s dig in, shall we?

#1 — Battery-Operated Spice Mill

#2 — Felting and Knitting Accessories

#3 — Health And Fitness

Just a few ideas that are running on my list…a slightly different twist to the active, younger mom.

Happy Mother’s Day!

10 Ways To Market Your Personal Brand

05/08/2013 By Jayme Soulati

The inspiration for this post came from something zany I did yesterday on a whim. Let me share…

I am publishing a book right now. The opportunity with that is to update profiles, bios and online identities. As I was updating my About Jayme Soulati page on this website, I decided to share it on Google+ with an out-there message, “Does anyone want to know me? Heh, just getting the shares on this page off ZERO!”

To which my friend Davina Brewer kindly said, “You crack me up; I need to do more of that, too.”

That quick scenario prompted this post and list:

10 12 Ways to Promote Your Personal Brand

1. Update your about page on your website and share it with the world. That was a gimme as I already told you I did that. I may give you 11 tips just because.

2. Write a news release about something cool product, service or project you’re involved with and optimize it with SEO juice.

3. Write a book! You can do an e-book you offer free on your website, a self-publish hard copy book like mine with a printer/book vendor, a Kindle book, or an Amazon book you can hold, too.

4. Launch a Google+ community like mine, Bloggers Unite, and become very active with those who join with welcomes for new members, greetings for those newly engaging, and banter for those frequently engaging.

5. Write a hire me blog post. Now, this I have not done; in fact, I’m not sure I can be so blatant about asking someone to hire me. Hmm, maybe I’ll bury that right here…will you please hire Jayme Soulati? (She’s totally worth it!)

6. Do a List.ly. I already have an idea for mine and have vetted it to see if it’s too alien. It’s going to be called — Top Reasons Why You Should Partner with Jayme Soulati, and I’ll install it on my About page somewhere. Now I need to make that happen. Maybe Nick Kellet will stop in and nudge me twice. (P.S. I just made this happen!)

7. Create your Google+ authorship mark up and add it to all your writings and bios.

8. Showcase your client work on a special page on your website. I just did this and it’s called Client News Releases. It’s samples of all the recent press releases I’ve written in the last month for a variety of clients. It shows an entirely other side to my writing — a more serious business style strictly professional.

9. Create a newsletter and subscribers’ list and do a fantabulous job of being personable while delivering content that makes people want to stay on board with you. Showcase the cool project you’ve just completed or feature someone you like in an interview, podcast, or YouTube series.

10. Guest post. Nothing like being a guest author on others’ blogs; it powers up your brand and introduces you to an entirely new community. Guest posting is something few of us do well. It requires a planned approach similar to what we do when pitching stories as media relations requires.

11. Brand Yourself! No, really. Head on over to BrandYourself.com and sign up. It’s the #RockHot of online personal branding and easy optimization for search!

12. Be a professional and personable you. At the end of the day, your engagement online, your shares, your willingness to help others, the content you write, and the presentation of your professionally personable self does more for the marketing of your personal brand than any recommended tactic.

What did I miss? Got a method that works for you?

Get Jayme’s Blogging Book Today!