Holtz Communications + Technology

To hear some tell it, the press embargo is dead.

It’s not, of course. I’ve written before that the embargo, when executed correctly, is a respected and useful tool. It thrives outside of the technology world. In medicine, where major journals publish comprehensive studies, embargoes are routine.

The key requirement for an effective embargo is an agreement between the news outlet and the news…

Organizations continue to pour resources into getting people to like their Facebook page, even citing the number of likes as a metric. Likes are worthless, though, if a sizable number of those people don’t come back to interact on the page. Most of us have liked a page just to be able to access some piece of content or other, only to…

Amidst all the positive buzz Morton’s steak house generated with its delivery of a steak to Peter Shankman at an airport baggage claim, there’s also a fair amount of criticism, dismissal and snark.

In case you missed the story, Peter (founder of HARO, social media A-lister and all-around good guy) tweeted jokingly to Morton’s Twitter account that a porterhouse waiting for him when he landed…

“Get me some coverage,” the CEO says, so the communicator conjures up a press release even though the company doesn’t really have anything to announce. The press release hits the inbox of reporters and bloggers, who glance at it in disgust and drag it to the trash folder.

This dance is repeated thousands of times weekly. But it doesn’t have to be like that. There are…

I work in public relations.

In one form or another, I’ve worked in PR for the last 34 years. It’s a profession I love. It’s an outlet for creative expression. It lets me see projects through to completion and assess their effectiveness.

In my three-and-almost-a-half decades in PR, I’ve met thousands of dedicated professionals who also work in communications. I’ve been fortunate to work with many of them.

I…

One of the changes the shift to digital has brought to Public Relations is the blurring of the line between earned and paid media. In fact, to be completely up to speed, you need to add owned and social media to the mix as well, but the earned/paid issue seems to be the most difficult for for PR counselors to…