AOL’s SEED.com: feedback loop much needed

I posted over on my agency’s blog about my early dealings with SEED.com. You can find it here.

My article, Dealing With Pet Loss, which was purchased 44 days ago by PawNation.com remains “publishing scheduled.” But still no word from the editors on when it will be published?

The lack of response from SEED editors been the biggest disappointment thus far. And the community has been extremely vocal about it.

Media Pitching 101

I posted over at my company’s blog about how PR reps need to “measure twice, and cut once” when it comes to pitching the media. Check it out here.

Damn you Twitter

I’ve neglected The Whole Nine Yards for six months – the reasons are many. But the #1 culprit, no question, is Twitter. Perhaps I’m better suited for “microblogging“?

Sad state of newspapers

Check out the post on LEWIS 360.

South Beach Diet Breakfast: Egg Muffins

Thanks to Kalyn Denn, editor of Kalyn’s Kitchen, we made 12 delicious Egg Muffins. Just a few ingredients: 12 eggs, 1.5 cups of cheddar cheese, diced red onion and chopped ham pieces. For a bit of spice, simply added salt and pepper. Here’s how they came out.

Two of these should provide plenty of fuel for my 6 mile jog.

South Beach Diet: on your mark, get ready, Go!

Today began day 1 of “Phase 1″ of the South Beach Diet. Will be me and my wife’s third consecutive year doing the SB in January and February. It’s always a welcome reprieve from all the eating, drinking and general partying around the holidays.

For breakfast, we had coffee and a hard boiled egg. Lunch brought a salad with onions, chick peas, tomatoes, and celery. And for dinner, we’re having balsamic pork (no sugar), Coleslaw and green beans with almonds. Yum. (we pounded the pork to let the marinade really get in there).

According to our customized meal planner, tomorrow we’re having tuna lettuce roll ups for lunch and “Phase 1″ friendly chili for dinner. Egg muffins for breakfast the next few days. Yikes…

Good News & Bad News for the New York Times

Good news: you can survive as a web only entity. Yippee!

Bad news: you need 1.3 BILLION page views per month. Yikes!

That today from online media-research company ContentNext.

(context – the NYT had 173 million page views in Oct ’08)

Giving Thanks

Posted over at LEWIS 360.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Recession proof businesses: myth or reality?

Is there such thing as a recession proof business? I must admit, I’m beginning to think not so much. Especially if gambling, tobacco, entertainment, and alcohol businesses are feeling the economic pain.

Newsweek columnist, Dan Lyons, has an excellent post touching upon the issue, which is a must read for all PR reps: Flack Watch: “This downturn is going to be good for us.” After all, we work with clients who occasionally seem to think their products and services are 100% recession proof. Worse than that insular belief is the notion that any business press reporter would care. From Dan’s post:

“As we head into the maelstrom of another economic downturn, flacks and spinmeisters will be rushing out to tell the world why the bad times are actually good for their companies. I’m already hearing people deliver some version of this, including the one that while many companies are going to get crushed, this particular company won’t suffer, because they possess the magical Anti-Downturn Potion, or they’re living inside the protection of an Economic Distortion Field. Some go a step further and even say the downturn could be a wonderful opportunity.”

It’s up to us to challenge our clients about the recession proof message: dig for more information to support the claim, even if your client is private, encourage them to share hard numbers, speak with one of your client’s c-level buyers for more perspective (heck, maybe they’ll give a gem soundbite – “our budgets are being slashed across the board except for in the areas of [enter client industry]).”

For example, we’ve heard the rosy claims from SaaS clients (i.e. low cost, per seat, predictable revenue streams, etc.) but it’s difficult to bring that to a savvy reporter when the poster children of the SaaS market are far from immune and struggling just like the big tech bellweathers.

As the eyes and ears to what is being discussed in the media, it’s no longer sufficient for a VP of Marketing to say “travel budgets are being axed, we offer video conferencing solutions, therefore, our business is just fine thanks” and think a reporter would run with that. The media has heard it all before. And, according to Dan, they’re not buying it anymore.

Encourage your clients to bring a fresh and honest approach to the recession proof story. Whether it’s an “experienced” client who was around in the previous down economy, learned from that, retooled the business and prepared for the next slowdown (i.e. NOW) or a start up (remember – Google and Yahoo! basically began in economic slowdowns) who is lean, focused on a specific “cottage industry,” that’s one way to begin open the media conversation.

Please don’t open the pitch with “We’re in the funeral parlor business. Everyone dies someday so we’re safe…”

Magazines Come and Go

And now some good news from the magazine world…(even on a day when US News & World Report slashes frequency to monthly putting “more focus on web efforts.”)

According to Samir Husni’s research, 52 new titles have launched in September and October 2008 with a frequency of four times or more (compared with 36 during the same period of 07).