Sarandipity Blog | Carter West Public Relations

The 4 Fundamentals of Writing a Good Press Release

I can’t tell you how many bad press releases I’ve read in the 30 years I’ve been doing PR. From typos to issuing marketing collateral as a release, it never ceases to amaze me how many companies don’t get what it takes to issue a solid release. Writing a press release worth reading is really very simple. Just follow these 4 Fundamentals! Fundamental #1 – Formatting. Press releases have a traditional format. Journalists and news organizations are used to reading news releases in a certain way, if you break from the basics, they...

PR 101: Selling the Sizzle Begins with Having an Actual Steak

To the best of my knowledge, Mark Twain – the famous American curmudgeon and humorist – never authored a news release. Yet anyone who hopes to drive coverage of their announcements would do well to follow his lead: “…(U)se plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences,” Twain wrote. “That is the way to write English — it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it.” If you work in public relations or with a PR agency,...

Work-Life Balance 2.0: Deepen Social Network Ties with Professional, Personal Posts

Scanning my Facebook and Twitter feeds this morning, I’m reminded of the now-timeless advice Dale Carnegieoffered in his 1936 classic, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” He wrote: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” While the adage largely holds true in the 21st century, it doesn’t fully align with the reality of how we interrelate in a Digital Age. Winning friends and influencing others on the...

4 Benefits of Company and Personal Facebook Pages

Having a Facebook page is paramount to your business’ social media success. Before developing a Facebook page, ask yourself what do I want to get out of my page? Once you answer this question, you are better equipped to determine which page is better for your company’s needs and objectives. Technically, businesses can’t make personal profiles. However, owners/managers might consider creating a personal profile. Here’s a list of the benefits from each type of Facebook page. Company Facebook Page 1. Number of followers: The goal of...

Making a Social Investment with Google+

When I heard about Google+ providing business pages, it made me contemplate if I needed another social media network. After much consideration I realized the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. Being a founder of a public relations firm, I’m expected to know everything about the latest marketing techniques. Creating a Google+ page keeps your business relevant in the minds of consumers. More and more people are being socially motivated to purchase items. As a result, if your business doesn’t possess the proper social networking...

Marx Brothers Night at the Opera

The first few times someone asked me to follow them on Twitter, I thought it a funny expression. In fact, it reminded me of a scene in a Marx brothers movie, Night at the Opera. Truth be told, I’m not a serious fan of the M-bros, and you won’t find me dressing as Harpo Marx to go to a Halloween party. But, picture this: Con artist Groucho is fast talking gibberish to the sophisticated and confused Margaret Dumont, his foil, who sits across from him in a restaurant. At one point, Groucho stops and asks, “Do you follow me?” Ms Dumont...

The Fortune Teller

There’s an old cartoon that showed the owner of a Fortune Teller shop putting up an Out of Business sign. One person walking by sees the sign and says to his friend: “You’d think they would have known.” Every now and again, I have a client who sorta-kinda assumes that we know everything that’s going on inside their company–or industry–and never bothers to share key developments with us. Hmm. Assuming someone should have known is never a strong or even useful assumption, and it can severely handicap your PR effort. The...

The Victorian Internet

I read a delightfully insightful book last year titled The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage. In brief, it was about how slowly news traveled before the dual inventions of the telegraph and transatlantic cable… and how rapidly the same news traveled after those creations. Today, news travels even faster. Much, much faster. The book served to remind me of the cornerstone of any successful media relationship: follow-up. If a journalist requests information, you must reply in hours, not days. If you are slow to reply, a journalist has plenty...