By Leo Valiquette
Though we took our usual holiday break in December, we still covered a lot of ground on the blog during the month. Scotland’s startup scene, the unintended consequences of Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit program, and practical pointers for handing off a content marketing program were among the many topics we covered.
In case you missed any of it, here is a handy recap of our posts, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
Dec. 5: It’s that time again to put life and work in perspective, by Leo Valiquette
Dec. 12: Don’t spit your PR effort into the wind, by Leo Valiquette
Dec. 6: SR&ED and the law of unintended consequences, by Francis Moran
Dec. 20: Is this my very last blog post?, by Francis Moran
Dec. 3: Lessons from Project Glass: Why embracing technology is not optional, by Megan Totka
Dec. 17: Commercializing research in Scotland, by Maurice Smith
Dec. 4: Top 10 questions every strategic communicator should ask, by Caroline Kealey
Dec. 10: Apple versus Samsung: Samsung’s ‘out’ to escape infringement, by David French
Dec. 11: A timely post about succession planning in content marketing, by Alexandra Reid
Dec. 13: Content is the sun around which all else revolves, by Francis Moran
Dec. 19: Businesses must think like publishers, says C.C. Chapman, by Alexandra Reid
Dec. 18: Data mining, DNA or otherwise, no substitute for real customer dialogue, by Leo Valiquette
By Leo Valiquette
Monday was a snow day across the Ottawa region, or, to be more precise, an ice rain day.
That left tens of thousands of kids with a bonus day off from school and parents tasked with finding alternative care arrangements. Many no doubt conceded defeat and took the day off rather than endure a hellish morning commute.
Today is another challenging one for parents. Elementary teachers with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board are on a one-day walkout to protest the Ontario government’s Bill 115. Their action impacts almost 50,000 students.
Of the two events, the walkout should be the less disruptive. It does, after all, impact only elementary schools and only one of the Ottawa area’s school boards. Parents were also given five days advance notice.
Our fickle winter weather is seldom so accommodating.
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By Alexandra Reid
As usual, we covered a lot of ground on our blog last month.
We explored why startups should focus on problems, not platforms, and why they shouldn’t outsource their core competencies. Francis explained why marketing involves much more than just creating a message and delivering that message with the tools of advertising and public relations. Mitch Joel supported that argument by stating that marketing is everything. Leo shared lots of great media relations advice, teaching us how to pitch to busy journalists without becoming a nuisance. Of course, these just scratch the surface of the topics we covered.
In case you missed any, here is a handy roundup of our posts last month, ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
October 16: Meet ..duo by Alexandra Reid
October 11: Montreal’s Notman House enters final funding stage by Francis Moran
October 10: Mitch Joel on why marketing is everything by Alexandra Reid
October 15: Social media gaffes: They can happen to anyone by Megan Totka
October 22: The plight of product managing myself by Peter Hanschke
October 24: ‘Put away the cozy image of the little old lady knitting a sweater for the grandkids’ by Alexandra Reid
October 9: Apple versus Samsung – Every patent owner’s dream by David French
October 2: Why I started learning code: a marketer’s perspective by Alexandra Reid
October 4: Marketing is about more than the colour of your new website by Francis Moran
October 23: Pitching to busy media figures in various media environments by Leo Valiquette
October 17: The thin line between being persistent and being a nuisance by Leo Valiquette
October 30: Make sure you’re barking up the right tree by Leo Valiquette
October 18: Canadian angel investors to gather in Halifax next week by Francis Moran
October 31: Pitch perfect: Startups should focus on problems, not platforms by Alexandra Reid
October 25: Communications planning: The principles by Caroline Kealey
October 3: Startups: Do not outsource your core competency by Leo Valiquette
October 29: The allure of building enterprise products by Jesse Rodgers
Image: 10Wallpaper.com
By Leo Valiquette
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about walking the fine line between being persistent and becoming a nuisance when it comes to pitching a story to the media, but there’s another consideration that goes into that – making certain that you are barking up the right tree.
One of the rules of thumb that guides the efforts of our affiliated PR agency inmedia Public Relations is, you can’t put much faith in online directories, which are notorious for being out of date. As I said in my previous post, there is simply no substitute for primary research of publications and their websites, looking up editors and journalists and qualifying that they do indeed cover the kind of story you are looking to fire at them.
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By Leo Valiquette
Public relations, or, to be more exact, media relations for the purpose of getting a story told through some manner of media outlet, is a process that takes its cue from a basic tenet of marketing – understand who your potential customers are, what they want, and what they need.
Journalists want a good story that they believe is timely and relevant for their readers. But articulating your story to them isn’t always enough for reasons that may have to do with the nature of the medium in question, the constraints of newsroom resources and what else is needed to create a well-rounded and complete piece of coverage.
In my post last week, I mentioned that a strong media launch must always begin with two key activities: The development of the media materials and the development of the media list. As I wrote then, creating that media list is a tedious but altogether necessary grind to ensure that you have identified not only those media who would have an interest in your story, but who also have potential to move your market by virtue of their audience size and makeup.
Assuming that you have done your proper due diligence and caught the harried attention of a journalist or editor who has some interest in your story, circumstances can still conspire against you.
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By Leo Valiquette
