I had a revelation at the PRSA Health Academy conference in Chicago: the overarching theme of my career is "It's prevention, stupid." With full apologies to the Clinton campaign that made the original phrase famous, it struck me that it's really that obvious and that simple. My technology and security background? Preventing ...
Category Archives: social media
The Right Place at the Right Time
This morning at the PRSA Health Academy conference, Dr. Peter Salgo -- whose name you might recognize from here, here or here -- gave a very energetic talk about the future of healthcare in America. The future, he says, is wellness: a proactive approach ...
Unplugging From the News
I'm a news junkie. My homepage is set to Google News headlines. I read the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BoingBoing and anything that shows up in my feed reader under a ...
Crisis Communications
It seems like everyone is talking about the quality problems and subsequent fall from grace at Toyota. The most startling, to me, is when someone casually says, "Well, you just know that they're going to find an email that proves that they knew something was up before ...
Why Does “Self” Mean “Selfish”?
In September, I started a 40-day commitment to my personal wellness: exercise, hydration and keeping an eye on my admittedly poor consumption of fruits and vegetables. It was fantastic. When I exercise, I sleep better, think more clearly and do a much better job of managing stress. I posted my daily results to a specific ...
My 10 Minutes of Fame
I've always avoided the spotlight at all costs. I don't seek it, I don't want it, and I tend to walk briskly in the opposite direction when it comes my way. I'm a writer, the voice behind the scenes, the Cyrano behind a company's sales force or executives. I guide others' ...
My HARO Experience: Part 2
On September 25, 2009, I ran my second HARO sponsorship ad. Information on my first sponsorship (January 20, 2009) can be found here. Did it generate traffic? Yes. Website traffic increased more than tenfold on the day of my sponsorship, and has been cruising along at about 2-3x my ...
Twitter and Copywriting
There's an old adage about web copywriting that goes something like, "write it, edit it by half, then edit it by half again." It's the modern-day equivalent of ye olde "KISS" -- keep it simple, stupid. This isn't always possible, of course -- it's a struggle to explain WLAN security or vascular surgery ...
My HARO Experience
For as many people who have called and emailed to ask about my experience with sponsoring the HARO email blast on January 20, I'm guessing that there's an equal number who wondered, but didn't call. Here are the answers to the most common questions.How many clicks?Three days later, my web ...
Nonprofits: Social Media for Outreach and Awareness
I offer marketing support to Asante Africa Foundation, an organization designed to provide quality education to children in East Africa, specifically Kenya and Tanzania. It’s a good organization, small and efficient, founded by one of my former coworkers. On a recent conference call, the marketing team discussed how to approach ...