How the Internet Changed Life as we Know it

By On February 17, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Business, Community, Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Web 2.0, Web/Tech, Weblogs

Looking back fifteen years or so, I remember the first hints of what would become the Internet as we know it today. Back then, I was a young twenty-something attending Sacramento State University, majoring in Psychology, when a forward-thinking professor of mine decided to require the class to use email (then completely text-based) to communicate [...]

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5 Steps To Becoming a Good Spokesperson

By On February 13, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Business, Media, Public Relations

As any company will realize, speaking with the media is inevitable. There is, however, a big difference between just talking to the media, and actually getting your point across in a way that will build lasting relationships, garner positive coverage and convince journalists that you are a good resource for them in [...]

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How Path Got it Right

By On February 9, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Current Affairs, Media, Public Relations, Technology

You may have heard of Path, the mobile-based startup with a fascinating premise: basically, it does what we all thought Facebook would do – keep us connected to our close friends and family.

The company, which, interestingly enough, was started by a number of high profile former Facebookers (Facebookees? Facebookians?) [...]

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A Flag on Leaked Super Bowl Ads

On February 7, 2012 By

2012 was the year of the Super Bowl advertising commercial pre-game release. Never before have more companies debuted or teased their ads online in the weeks leading up to their official game day appearance. So, what accounts for this new trend?

Simply put, this strategy of leaking commercials in advance gives advertisers [...]

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Battle of the Sexes: Social Media

On February 2, 2012 By

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I’ve been thinking about how men and women differ. Specifically, I was curious about how men and women interact through social media. What are the differences? In my quest for answers, I pulled some research to show a few basic trends in how men [...]

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Using mobile phones to make in-store buying decisions

On January 30, 2012 By

Did you use your mobile phone to help make buying decisions this past holiday season? According to a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project that was released today, more than half of adult cell phone users did.

The research showed an interesting breakdown of how shoppers used [...]

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How to Develop a Winning Nomination for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards

On January 24, 2012 By

This is awards season at Ernst & Young LLP. The good folks there are not only busy safeguarding the results of the Golden Globes, but have opened up nominations for their own annual Entrepreneur of the Year® Awards. Applications are due March 9, 2012.

The Entrepreneur of the Year Awards (EoY) nomination [...]

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CES: Dead and Buried? Don’t Hold Your Breath

On January 20, 2012 By

Having just returned from CES, I’m surprised to see the “CES is dying” coverage.

This seems to be due, in large part, to Microsoft pulling out of the show.

Is the show changing? Absolutely. Is it the powerhouse it once was? Perhaps not. Is it going away by 2015 as some have [...]

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A Misquote Etched in Stone

On January 18, 2012 By

As PR professionals, we’re all too familiar with misquotes and quotes taken out of context. Whether it’s a statement we delivered ourselves, or something a client said during an interview, it’s tough to see a quote appear in print in a manner that wasn’t how you intended.

Typically, the course of action is to contact [...]

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FedEx, You May Want to Send Yourself a New Image, but Ship it UPS

On January 12, 2012 By

I’m sure by now most of you are familiar with the FedEx delivery fiasco that went viral on December 21, 2011, showing a FedEx employee delivering a computer monitor by throwing it over the fence instead of ringing the doorbell. Unfortunately, for the delivery man and FedEx, it was caught [...]

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One Bad Apple Can Ruin the Whole Bunch

On January 10, 2012 By

I am always reading blogs and Twitter feeds by reputable public relations professionals to learn new tips and tricks of the trade.  Intermingled with those tidbits of useful information, I also make it a point to pay attention to idiotic moves by PR hacks. After a series of recent high-profile gaffes by executives and PR-noir [...]

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Fight the Power: Customers Force Verizon to Abandon Fee Increase

On January 4, 2012 By

I recently issued a retrospective on the Sterling blog on the most provocative and head-scratching events of 2011, but one managed to sneak in during the very last days of the year.

During the late afternoon on December 30, Verizon stated that it was scrapping a controversial $2 fee for [...]

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12 Provocative Events in 2011 from a PR and Tech Perspective

On December 29, 2011 By

Here on the Sterling Communications blog, we’ve never been shy about expressing our opinions on current events. From the events that made us want to stand and clap, to those that left us scratching our heads in confusion, here is a recap of the Sterling response to a dozen of the year’s most intriguing issues [...]

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Running “Deep,” Instead of Running Away

On December 22, 2011 By

“Chevy Runs Deep”

When GM auto company Chevrolet introduced this new slogan late last year, few knew exactly what it meant. According to Chevy’s advertising agency – Goodby, Silverstein & Partners – “Chevy Runs Deep” is meant to be used in such a way that it will solve past marketing problems faced by the [...]

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The Future of Holiday Shopping

On December 14, 2011 By

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday, Daily Comparison Shopping.

Technology has changed the way consumers approach the holidays. For years now, media and analysts have pointed to Cyber Monday as the prime example of this.

In the next few years, mobile applications could very well outpace the Cyber [...]

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Small Business is Big

On December 12, 2011 By

Big brands are having no trouble luring shoppers in with low prices and extravagant advertising campaigns this holiday season, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday leading the way. Meanwhile, small, local businesses must find other ways to get an edge. Naturally, most small businesses don’t have the cash flow for pricey advertising [...]

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What Is the Media Predicting for 2012?

On December 2, 2011 By

It takes a brave soul to sit in front of a room of people and predict the future. Wednesday’s Media Predicts: 2012 event sponsored by the PRSA Silicon Valley gathered a constellation of stars in tech reporting to find out what Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and others may have in store for the [...]

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Why Online Shopping Megabit This Year

On November 29, 2011 By

With bellies full of warm Thanksgiving goodness, many Americans turn from stuffing themselves to stuffing holiday stockings with Black Friday deals. In last week’s blog post, I explored how the Internet and mobile shopping are changing Black Friday. After countless interviews and maneuvering through [...]

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The Digital Turkey: How Technology is Changing Black Friday

On November 23, 2011 By

Black Friday. To some these words conjure images of post Thanksgiving family fun, waiting in line to get the year’s best pricing on hot ticket items. Others grudgingly stand in the freezing cold hoping to score that outrageously priced TV for a steal, and then there are those who forgo shopping of any kind to [...]

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Holiday Gift Guides – Why Didn’t You Start in August?

On November 18, 2011 By

Holiday gift guides are a golden opportunity for companies to showcase their products to a targeted audience using stories and photos. What’s better, it’s free. However, there are a number of key elements that companies need to keep in mind as they begin the gift guide process, if they want to be [...]

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Solyndra: Solar’s Reputation Problem

On November 16, 2011 By

In the wake of Solyndra’s collapse, the solar industry has received a lot of negative attention, and people may be getting the impression that the industry is doomed; however, this is hardly the case. Media have been focusing on the failure of large firms like Solyndra, Evergreen Solar and Beacon Power. This is understandable, [...]

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It takes a community…

On November 10, 2011 By

Have you ever just had to check out a product or website because it seems everyone was talking about it, and you wanted to see what the big deal was? (For me, that was Pinterest, and it’s safe to say I am now a shameless Pinterest addict and evangelist.)

At last week’s Continue Reading →

Social Media: The New Destination for Endorsements

On November 8, 2011 By

Elizabeth Olsen reminds you what film acting can be….

What movie critic said this? Wait, this endorsement actually comes from actor Alec Baldwin – in a tweet! And, the first time I saw this wasn’t even on Twitter, but in a print ad for the new movie, Martha Marcy May [...]

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How to Build Lasting Relationships with the Media

On November 4, 2011 By

While social media is a great tool for disseminating information quickly to a lot of people, it also fuels our gotta have everything and gotta have it now attitude. Remember back when Web pages took a minute or more to load? Now if it takes more than a few seconds we grow impatient and abandon [...]

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Bringing It All Back Home: The Ultimate Decision of Re-rebranding

On November 1, 2011 By

Like the Bob Dylan album title suggests, often the best move to make when all else fails is to go back to basics and return “home” to what made you great to begin with. Stemming from a recent blog entry of mine highlighting Twinings Tea Company’s abrupt revamping and then reappearance [...]

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5 Key Questions (and Answers) on Press Showcases

On October 28, 2011 By

Last summer I blogged a couple of times about different types of paid press events, such as a Satellite Media Tour (SMT) and an in-studio media tour. There’s a third type of event that I recommend to clients: the in-person “party” showcase that often occurs in conjunction with [...]

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The Role of Social Media in Activism

On October 25, 2011 By

We all know that the creation of the Internet and social networking sites have exponentially increased our ability to disseminate information; after all, they are real time mass information distribution networks, but they have also increased our ability to organize. Social media played an important role in the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, which ultimately led [...]

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Occupy: the Media

On October 20, 2011 By

Over the past few weeks, I have been watching the Occupy Movement stories with interest, and maybe a little annoyance, after having been harassed in Reno by a mob of Occupiers this past weekend. But whatever my personal view on this, I am grateful for the First Amendment, which grants us the rights [...]

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Halloween Goes Social

On October 18, 2011 By

With the proliferation of social media, gone are the days of thumbing through a newspaper to find out about Halloween events, or browsing through a store to come up with ideas for a costume. People are flocking to Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites more than ever to decide not only [...]

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PR for the PR Industry, Part II: Social Media

On October 13, 2011 By

Recently, my colleague Scott Smith blogged about how the PR industry itself could sometimes use a little PR. Today’s topic focuses on a related issue: social media for the PR industry.

As PR professionals, social media is becoming an increasingly larger part of our job, especially since nearly everyone is a [...]

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