There are moments when a certain story simply takes over the world. Or a country, or a city or a small town. The scale really does not matter, the effect is the same: every media outlet will cover that major event. It’s a journalistic rule you learn in the first year of journalism school. If something is really big, it takes over and becomes the most important piece of news, regardless of anything else.

Such events are the royal wedding we’ve just had, big elections, the earthquake in Japan, or Osama being killed. For a longer or shorter stretch of time, they have the spotlight and no one can compete. And it’s not just lifestyle magazines or political newspapers that cover them! Tech blogs and magazines will talk about the Twitter user who live tweeted the attack on Osama, financial newspapers will analyze the cost of the royal wedding or analyze the impact on foreign markets a natural disaster has. Travel outlets will talk about the travelers taking over London or the travel warnings issued after the Osama bin Laden death. 

Sure, all these outlets will still need other stories to publish, you cannot fill an entire edition with one story and the related ones you can think of! But will the other stories matter as much? Will anyone notice them? Those who are interested in the main event will overlook everything else, those who’ve had it with it will simply log off for the day. Therefore, at times like these, the best approach is to postpone your pitch unless it is directly related with the main event and strong enough to make it through the clutter. For example, if you’re the company providing the wedding flowers or designing the dress, you could pitch your story and actually get tons of attention. If you’re a small restaurant that decided to celebrate the wedding and are throwing a party with a longer than usual happy hour, the BBC will probably not publish your press release!

So instead of fighting for 5 seconds in a day where it means 5 seconds of being ignored, but on the air, it’s better to postpone your announcement. Plus, in case of major disasters, if you also have the bad luck of them occurring in your country or city, you and your client might be perceived as heartless. Unless you have a big event planned for months ahead, with press conference, partner meetings and people expecting you to show up, just put it off for a while!

You might see it as a hassle, but it’s not all bad. From each event, there is something to be learned. Don’t believe me? Have you read or heard President Obama’s speech on bin Laden being killed? If not, read it now, and also read this article by the Bad Pitch Blog providing valuable insight on what events like these can teach you.

A while back I was discussing how the ability of driving traffic to stories is nothing new for PR professionals. Actually, I strongly believe being able to generate buzz and traffic around a story published in the media about a client is something journalists should consider when covering a topic. In the current background, it seems that this ability of PRs will prove to be worth quite a bit in the business world.

We all know that blogs and online news outlets usually give bonuses to their writers based on traffic, engagement or shares that help spread the word. It’s not unusual for a writer to make more just because his or her story gets tons of retweets or Facebook shares or because it brings in thousands of visits.

What’s even more interesting is that this trend will soon move to media outlets that made a name in print and have online editions. Rumor has it USA Today is considering giving traffic bonuses to writers. As public relations professionals pitch stories to the very same journalists who will earn more based on traffic, how good the PR expert is at helping out on this matter will count.

And it should count! All news outlets are businesses. The numbers matter to them as the matter to other types of websites. I don’t see this as a new trick to pull to get some coverage. The way I see PR and journalism is as a collaboration, mutual help. The journalist gets a good topic to cover and information helping him get a broad picture, plus the traffic required by their supervisors, the PR pro gets coverage for a client, which translated into traffic and hopefully sales for them and an ongoing contract for the PR consultant.

The million dollar question for PRs right now is can you drive traffic to stories? If not, are you planning on learning how to soon? Now it’s the time to do it!

What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

It’s been a rich week in the online world in what usefull business, PR and Marketing tips are involved. Here are a few must reads for you to kick start the week with:

Lip-sticking blog’s guest writer Chloe Spencer explains Why Teens Are Addicted to Facebook.

A scandal raising once again well known issues – is the media biased? how far should you go when a journalist has published something partially true about yourself? are journalists in the business of half-truths? Oracle CEO to Fortune Reporter: ‘Hey Jerk…your job is telling half-truths’ via PR Newswire.

Thinking of turning your blog into a book? Then you should read about Barbara Swafford’s experience on Blogging without a Blog.

5 Not-So-Easy Steps to Manage Your Brand Online, an insightful post from Brian Solis on listening, engaging social media users and managing online brands.

Fair warning from Ben Yoskovitz (Instigator Blog): Scratching Your Own Itch May be Detrimental to Your Startup’s Health!

A great question coming from Amber Naslund – Are You Sure You Want That Social Media Job?

Shouldn’t social media be about the people boosting its power? Yet most social media platforms are in the bad habit of hunting down power users (who act as evangelits, driving hordes of traffic and attentions). Alex Cristache debates it in Social Media’s new creed: Power from the people.

Weekly Roundup on Travel Tweeks

Ed Stafford, First Man to Hike the Full Length of the Amazon River
This is a story about dedication, endurance and love for hiking and the wild outdoors. It took Ed Stafford a little over two years to complete the 4,000 mile hike along the Amazon River, from its source to its mouth,making him the first man in the entire world to succeed in such a challenging travel plan. He started his hike in Peru, back in April 2008 and finished it yesterday at Maruda Beach, Brazil.
More

Roatan Island, Honduras: Scuba Diving Paradise
Welcome to the astonishing Roatan Island, Honduras, the largest of all Bay Islands and dream destination for scuba divers across the world.
More

My articles on Everything PR

Absolutely Public Relations’ big fail in the challenging world of social media

Mia Farrow States Naomi Campbell’s Uncut Diamond Story Is Inaccurate

Carole White Agrees with Mia Farrow: Naomi Campbell lied

Apple Exec Mark Papermaster Leaves because of iPhone Antennagate

Tropical Storms Mess up BP Oil Well Sealing Plans yet again

New Jackie Evancho YouTube Viral Boosts America’s Got Talent Popularity [video]

comScore Twitter Worldwide Report: Indonesia, Brazil and Venezuela Score Top Growth

US PR Spending Rebounds, Set to hit USD 4.4 billion by 2014

Small Business Owners Continue Education to Expand Skill Set

2010 PRWeek Awards, Recognizing Excellence in Public Relations

Oprah Winfrey Hires Rosy O’Donnell on Her Soon to Come Cable TV Channel

Obama’s New PR Strategy: Send More Illegal Immigrants Home

Levi Johnston, from Dating Sarah Palin’s Daugther to Getting TV Reality Show

Scott Pilgrim vs The World Under-performs this Weekend, Proving Reviewers Wrong

Have an awesome week and see you all next Monday!

As you arleady know, a while ago I debuted on Everything PR and have since become one of their regular writers. It’s been fun and challenging and I’d like to keep you updated with what I’m posting there. So I decided the best way was a monthly roundup (along with the tweets and Facebook shares that annouce my new articles). Here’s what I’ve been up to this month, hope you enjoy it!

Coca Cola’s New Social Media Model: Going for the Kill
Coca Cola has revealed its new social media model. It is called the 4P model, namely reviewing, responding, recording and redirecting. There’s nothing quite revolutionary behind the fancy naming, but it is a tested, well documented, experiment and success backed model to help them accomplish marketing and sales goals.

Vocus Launches New Social Media Monitoring Tool
Vocus has released a new and improved version of its social media monitoring software, the Summer ‘10 Edition. The new application focuses on monitoring and analyzing the massive amounts of online information spread across blogs, forums, Twitter, LinkedIn and other online communities, identify and help engage key influencers.

Vocus acquired free PR service Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
Following a recent release of their social media monitoring software, Vocus announced they had acquired Help a Reporter Out (HARO), a free service connecting bloggers and journalists with their sources, mostly small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Norton Offers Online Protection to Parents and Children from Around the World
Security expert Symantec has expanded its Norton Online Family web service to cover 25 languages and thus offers parents from around the world the possibility to set browsing rules for their children, provide them a secure online experience and teach them about Internet safety.

Google News Creator Says Journalism Is Here to Stay
Google News creator says journalism is here to stay and identified key changes bound to occur in the next five years or so. Journalistic organizations will have to adapt to new trends and channles to stay relevant to their audiences.

Small Business, Great Dedication and an Even Bigger Heart
Meet Rachelle Lucas, innkeeper, blogger in love with breakfast recipes, cooking and travel, marathon runner and fund raiser for a center researching and treating cancer in children. A powerful inspirationand a great business managing and promoting lesson to follow.

PRFrame – New PR Tool for Mozilla Firefox
A new PR addon for Mozilla Firefox has just been released by BeFrame. PRFrame is said to be a useful tool for PR experts, beginners and all those generally curious about public relations. While the actual features are not clearly defined in the release annoucements, the browser tool might show some potential.

Toy Story 3’s big hit and the adult hijack of animation movies
The weekend brought a huge success to animation movie Toy Story 3 of hit maker Pixar, with big bucks being spent on seeing it. Adults, not children, were those most happy to see the new film, coming in larger numbers than children, the intended audiece of such productions.

CNN and Larry King Announce Telethon to Help Victims of BP Oil Spill
CNN’s Larry King Live to host telethon to raise money for victims of the BP oil spill. Numerous A-listers such as Justin Bieber, Ted Danson, Cameron Diaz, Randy Jackson, Robert Redford and many more will join the Disaster in the Gulf: How You Can Help special edition. Larry King joins the lines of stars helping out or blaming BP which include Kevin Costner, James Cameron, Lady Gaga and Corn to name only a few.

Kindle and Nook start price war on e-reader market
Kindle and Nook start cutting prices and the competition gets tougher on the e-reader market. E-reader makers, the much hyped about iPad and other gadgets with e-book reading functionalities want a piece of the sales.

Google rumored to launch music service
Google is rumored to be getting ready to launch a music downloading service that will be available online and on the Android OS. Revenge at Apple for making it blocking AdMob on iPhones or just a smart business move?

Bethenny Frankel – When Personal Brands Grow Stronger than the Real Housewives shows
Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel is said to be leaving the show due to the drama surrounding the current cast and star her own, Skinny & The City, produced Real Housewives brand owner Bravo. Following a similar trend, Kate Gosseling is moving past her divorce and ex hit show ‘Jon and Kate plus 8′ to be the center of two new shows.

Malware City – Fighting the Villains of the Online World
BitDefender’s MalwareCity.com is a quite unusual business blog, mixing anime and comic strips with IT security post and news, online freebies and the fun side of the social world. It is a rather effective method to use fun to raise awareness about real threats of the virtual world and to sell their products.

PRWeb getting ready to launch new website in July
Online news distribution service PRWeb will release a new website in July featuring a fresh look and feel and new PR tools and resources to help users get more visibility and leads.

Bing Entertainment – Less Time Searching, More Enjoying
Microsoft launched a new targeted search website, Bing Entertainment, focusing on finding and enjoying everything entertainment, from music and movies to video games and TV series. Bing Entertainment focuses on gaining new users and keeping them longer on their site, while also getting more market share from rival Google.

Smart Phones Apps Drive Increase in Map usage on the US Mobile Market
Digital data measurement expert comScore released a study showing phone apps drive maps adoption and usage on the US mobile market. With a 14% share of the entire mobile market, phone maps are accessed by 33.5 million people, mostly via apps and while driving their cars.

Kellogg’s explains massive cereal recall
A couple of days after the massive recall of 28 million cereal boxes, Kellogg’s issued a press statement explaining the withdrawn products did not meet quality standards, but did not contain health threatening substances. While some consumers did experience nausea, vomiting and other such symptoms, they were caused by the off taste and smell of the cerials, not by potentially harmful components in the product or its packaging.

New Harry Potter Trailer Announces the End of Our Favorite Wizarding Adventures (Video)
A thrilling, entertaining and dark trailer to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows announces the last part of one of the most famous wizardry stories that we have been following closely for years. The final JK Rowling book of the Harry Potter series will power two movies to be released this year and in 2011.

Back in March, while having coffee with two good friends of mine, Alina Fekete and Violeta-Loredana Pascal, I first mentioned my idea of creating an online magazine for women that would be so much better than any other glossy magazine available on the Romanian market, pretending to know what women want and need. A magazine that would speak of career choices, successful women, real world relationships. A magazine for and with real women, the women beyond makeup and stereotypes.

Luckily, the jumped on board right then and there, and we started working on bringing our baby to life. It took us quite a while, the hardest part being to decide on a name. After a few failed tries, Alina Fekete who’s a designer suggested Cenuşă de trandafir, rose ashes. It’s the name of a colour, also called dusty pink. We loved the idea. Simply because complicated color names say women, but mostly because we loved the metaphor: purging through fire all the misconceptions, stereotypes and fake images on women. And then enjoying the real substance that’s left.

Cenuşă de trandafir was oficially launched last Tuesday. Mostly on Twitter and through word of mouth, from us to our friends, to their friends, to their friends. Based on the traffic, the number of comments, the retweets and the private messages, I’d say it was quite a success! And given the right amount of passion and hard work, plus some luck, it’s bound to keep growing.

Unfortunately, only my Romanian readers will be able to enjoy this new magazine. But since it means so much to me, I wanted to share the news with all of you! Good news are meant to be shared, hoping they’ll put a smile on the faces of those you care about

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I’ve not completely disappeared. But if we only connect through this blog, well, I might have led you to believe I’ve deserted and am hiding away . So I thought it was high time for a quick update on what yours truly has been doing lately.

• Working, of course. Both with my existing clients on some amazingly cool projects and with new ones I’ll tell you more in a short bit. It’s been fun and challenging, but is also took a lot of my time, including weekends The situation won’t change, but I’m learning to better adapt to it.
• Reading and listening to music – these have been my favorite ways of relaxing. I’ve finished the first three books of the Twilight series (the fourth will only be published in Romania this autumn, so I’m getting it from Amazon). As for music, I finally reconnected with my old habit of listening to music while working. I draw a lot of inspiration from it.
• Looking into buying a house. Actually, rent it first, then buy it, as this is not the best moment ever to get a loan. So, thank God for smart companies, they’ve invented this Rent-2-Buy program, where you pay rent for a couple of years and after that, when you buy the house, all your rent is deducted from the price. So it appears I’ll soon have my own little house, with a little garden, a terrace and a huge kitchen
• Writing! I can’t really explain when exactly I’m doing this, but I’ve started writing a novel. It’s been a while since I last considered writing fiction again! But it’s a great opportunity to use my English vocabulary for something more than business writing. I can tell you it will be a vampire story. Simply because after dozens of books, movies and TV series, I still fee I haven’t been told the story I always wanted to hear. So I’m writing it

I’ve missed being here, reading blogs and connecting with you all! But I bet my break from my online home is over! See you around

Now that you know that the Mirror Communications PR and Marketing Agency is up and running, I’d like to share another piece of news today. I’ve also launched the Articles and eBooks section with a first piece on events and the myth of the almighty booth.

This section will cover PR and Marketing topics, but not in the usual format of this blog. There will be longer articles and ebooks that will each debate a topic and present it more thoroughly. This first article is intended to show how getting a booth at a trade show is not always the best alternative, especially for the business to business segment and for products with a medium to long purchase cycle.

Hope you like this new section and that you find it usefull in planning yoru PR strategy and in getting more business.

2008 has been an interesting, challenging and far from boring year for me and those close to me. And not that 2009 is right around the corner, I’d like to share some of the amazing things that have happened and what’s to come in the next year.

I’ve been dropping hints here and there about a big something I was planning to tell you about and it’s finally time to tell you what I am really talking about. Some of you already know it, some of you have picked up the track on LinkedIn, but I’m making it official now. Drums please!

I started my own company!!! It’s called Mirror Communications and it does what I do best: marketing and PR consulting.

It all started in April, when I decided to make myself the best birthday gift I could ever think of: my own company, with everything it entails: independence, huge responsibility, different lifestyle and all that. It wasn’t much at the time, just a name and lots of paperwork. That is why it’s been on stealth mode ever since.

Well, after an exhausting year, lots of stress and my need to run my own life, careerwise and a three week vacation to think of what I really want, what I need and how I want the rest of my life to look like, I decided I didn’t want a side gig, I wanted the whole deal and in November I handed in my resignation to Axigen.

It was harder than I thought it would be. I was a bit scared. OK, a lot. I had spent over 2 years as part of the Axigen team and I’ve come to care a lot about the people I work with. Then something really awesome happened: after a long talk with the Axigen CEO, they became my client! I can’t begin to explain how great it felt to see they appreciated and needed me enough to adapt to what I wanted and find a way not to end our collaboration. So I’m there 4 hours a day, I still manage their PR department and I have loads of time left for other projects.

This is what’s happened in 2008. What does 2009 hold? Well January will most surely be the month I officially launch the Mirror Communications website. And of course Alex Cristache is guilty for the design It’s almost ready, it looks amazing and I’m working hard on writing the texts. And yes, it’s harder when it’s your site, especially if you’re a perfectionists like I tend to be.

I know we’re all in a downturn, I know some think marketing and PR services will be in lower demand. I beg to differ. The smart companies will use marketing and PR extensively. They might invest in different projects, but marketing and PR are here to stay.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this piece of news which is the biggest in the world for me right now! But above all, keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck!

This is the kind of news that makes all those predicting the end of print media go “Aha!”. Starting February 2009, we’ll have to say goodbye to the print version of PC Magazine. It will be changed into a digital format, with similar subscription options. I’m looking forward to see how advertising options will change, but even more curious to see how many of they readers switch from paper to downloadable format.

How did they announce it? Well, it’s all posted on their site, the CEO emailed their contacts and, just in case that email was lost among others, account managers also contacted their clients. From what my contact shared with me, before this move, a large part from the magazine’s income was generated by their digital branch. This leads me to believe the complete switch was a pretty smart move.

What do you think? Any predictions you’d like to share? Will other magazines follow the same pattern? Is this easier for a tech magazine? I’d love to read your thoughts.