I was a sports announcer at the outset of my career and had the opportunity to interview dozens of athletes, coaches and managers. Having witnessed the daily “song and dance” between Major League Baseball managers and the media I found these sessions to be most interesting, even fun, sometimes argumentative,…

As a St. Louis Public Relations professional, I am often asked by business owners, “What are the differences between PR and advertising?” Comparing the publicity aspect with a typical ad campaign, the main difference is that with advertising you, the client or business owner control the message. This differs from…

A St. Louis Public Relations professional, I am often asked if public relations can work for a small business. The answer is “yes”. Even on a lesser scale, the basics of creating a PR campaign for a small business are virtually the same as creating one for a large corporation.…

The owner of a St. Louis Public Relations firm, I am often asked for advice when a friend or colleague inquires about a marketing problem or a potential marketing opportunity. Recently a friend solicited my assistance to spread the word about an upcoming advertising campaign he was involved in. The…

The owner of a St. Louis Public Relations Agency, I have had recent meetings with heads of several established businesses and have elicited one conclusion; it’s time to get back to what football coaches call “blocking and tackling”. A number of these established companies enjoyed outstanding success prior to the…

Many companies believe the answer is a resounding “Yes!”. They argue the in-game $3 million, thirty-second commercial, will reach an unprecedented audience. More than 100 million persons will watch the game, including millions of young men and other hard to reach demographic groups. In fact viewers are actually “tuned-in” to…

It’s interesting how local sports teams are tied into the fabric of a community. Once a local team starts winning it seems the entire area wants to jump on-board. The team becomes the lead item on local newscasts and TV ratings soar. Bars and restaurants begin to fill-up on game…

Many business owners believe they need a major announcement or big event to get some media coverage. Not so. In many cases your local paper or business journal has space to run your news item providing its “newsworthy”. Often a number of small announcements work just as well as one…

BP’s PR campaign has taken a new twist, in case you haven’t noticed. Several weeks ago owners of local gas stations and regional oil distributors started appearing on TV newscasts and in newspaper articles. The message…”Please don’t boycott BP you’ll only hurt your friends and neighbors.” The idea being that…