Author Archives: Dana Coleman
@SEC Embraces Social Media for Communicating with Investors
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recently issued guidance on use of social media by corporations as a means to communicate with investors. But the guidance is receiving mixed reviews and, as Fortune magazine put it, received a definite … Continue reading
Does Your Writing Need a Tune-up?
Determining what represents good writing is somewhat subjective, but good writing should always be free of misspellings and grammatical and punctuation errors. These “mechanics” of writing are fundamental to effective communication and your mastery of them – or lack thereof … Continue reading
Lessons Can Be Learned from 2012’s PR Disasters
The end of the year brings countless recap articles, but none interest, amuse and horrify me quite so much as those describing the worst P.R. blunders of the year. One of these, from Business Insider, not only makes fun reading … Continue reading
Just Say (or Write) It: The Best Quotes Sound Normal
When some writers begin to craft a speech, a statement on behalf of an organization, or a quote from an executive for a news release, they must suddenly forget they’re writing for real people. Because real people don’t speak in … Continue reading
Common AP Style Errors
The AP Stylebook sets forth the rules of writing for the news industry. For those of us writing for and pitching news to reporters, it’s important to know and follow their style. This is particularly true as newsrooms continue to … Continue reading
Brand Confidence: What’s Your Call?
How confident are you in your brand? Likely not as confident as the NFL, which seems convinced that fans, players and broadcasters will quickly forget the replacement referee crisis as soon as an agreement is reached…whenever that may be. The … Continue reading
Butt Is It News?
By now everyone has likely heard that photographs have surfaced of Britain’s Prince Harry in the nude that were taken as the 27-year-old partied in a hotel suite in Las Vegas last week. And it’s likely you heard about it … Continue reading
Write, Write, Write: Don’t like to write? Then PR may be wrong for you.
Someone recently asked what exactly I do in a P.R. agency all day. The answer is, I write, write and write some more. I write news releases, bylined articles and feature stories. I write news pitches to send to reporters … Continue reading
A Successful Event Requires Both Planning and Spontaneity
There are two seemingly contradictory secrets to pulling off a successful event. First, create a detailed plan, because in event planning, the devil’s in the details, as they say. But also be prepared to be creative on the fly and … Continue reading
It’s Etch A Sketch in a Landslide!
Every consumer brand dreams of a high-profile mention that suddenly propels its product it into the national spotlight. Right? Well, maybe. What if the attention comes in a politically-charged environment? That’s the situation in which Ohio Art, creator of Etch … Continue reading
