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Greetings!
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Treat yourself to cannoli at Milwaukee's Festa Italiana. |
Summer in Milwaukee means good food, great festivals and lots of fun...luckily, you can find all of these and more in this month's Vibe! - The Vollrath Associates Team |
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5 Creative Ways to Make that Next Press Release Pop!
Press releases are used day-in and day-out, but for some PR professionals (not VA!), writing releases runs the risk of becoming a mundane, fruitless task. However, the press release is still a valuable tool used to create buzz, debut a new product or tell a story about your company.
Whether you're writing press releases yourself, or having others do it for you, here are some tips to spice things up and get your company noticed:
1. Go big or go home: If you really want to grab people's attention, claiming your company or client can accomplish a crazy feat usually does the trick. For example, if you think your company's engines will outperform the competition, hold a race between two machines and see which motor wins. People love competition and luckily, the media does too.
2. Conduct a study: If your company prefers to take a more practical approach, try conducting a study. If your printing business promotes how "green" it is, study how much paper is wasted by an office every day. Then you can use your findings in a press release that talks about wasteful practices and how green your printer is. This approach provides useful information and promotes the product. 
3. Human Interest: What about your company sets itself apart on a human level? If your audience can relate to an issue or person in some way, you're golden.
4. Work the Seasons: The weather is always a hot topic, no matter what you're selling. For example, if you're trying to sell windows you might want to pitch that summer is the perfect time for home renovations.
5. Jokes: Throwing in a little humor every now and then (when appropriate) could be just what the doctor ordered. It doesn't have to be smart and witty either. Generally, corny humor works well.
Article adapted from "5 Unusual ideas to make your next press release pop" by Mickie Kennedy via Ragan's PR Daily. |
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NIRI Announces Short Sale Reporting Survey Results A recent National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) survey on short sale reporting, confirmed that companies are in favor of increased transparency. Of respondents, 89 percent believe that greater transparency of short sale transactions would help deter short sale abuses or assist in additional appropriate actions to prevent them. Of these respondents:
-96 percent believe new public short sale position reporting by all investors should be required
- 78 percent of respondents desire a frequency no less than monthly for short sales reporting; 36 percent desire this information either daily or in real time
-92 percent of respondents indicated timing no less than monthly regarding new stock lending disclosure; 30 percent would prefer this information either daily or in real time
Article adapted from the NIRI Executive Alert on June 30, 2011. |
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Festa Italiana Delivers Food, Fun and Entertainment for the Entire Familiga!
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Fireworks are set to go off every night of Festa! |
Ciao! Things are getting festive in the VA office this summer as Festa Italiana, the country's largest Italian-American festival of its kind, heats up. Celebrating its 34th annual event, Festa kicks off on Thursday, July 21 and runs through Sunday, July 24 at the Henry W. Maier Festival Park on Milwaukee's lakefront.
This year, the festival will focus on the Veneto region of Italy best known for Venice, its beloved capitol city. In true Venetian fashion, Festa is bringing back gondola rides for families and lovers to take in the romantic sights and sounds of Italy on Milwaukee's own lakefront! Aside from the gondola rides, festival attendees can enjoy delicious Italian fare, celebrity chef cooking demonstrations, cultural events, world-class entertainment and fun events like the ever-popular cannoli eating competition.
This year's Marcus Ampitheater headliners include Buddy Valastro: TLC's Cakeboss , Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons and The Monkees 45th Reunion Tour . For a complete schedule of events and updates, visit the Festa Italiana website, Facebook page or Twitter. |
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VA Team Members Get the Inside Scoop on Google+
At the Southeastern Wisconsin Public Relations Society of America's June Chapter meeting, the air was abuzz with talk about Google's latest foray into the social media scene, Google+. Good thing the meeting's speaker, Catherine Roe, VP of Consumer Packaged Goods at Google, was on hand to give the social-savvy PR pros the inside scoop.
All About Google+
Similar to Facebook, Google+ has chat, content sharing and group video features. Although it's too early to tell, some are even predicting that Google+ will dethrone giants like Facebook and Twitter. Once a user has a public Google profile, he or she will be able to add a "+1" next to websites they recommend, helping friends or contacts find the most relevant information online. So what does all of this mean for PR and marketing efforts?
-Monitoring: Google+ is one more venue you'll need to monitor for brand reference and other mentions.
-Targeting: The leading advantage Google+ has over other social channels is its ability to reach well-defined, targeted audiences using distinct circles for different groups of people based on characteristics found from their Google profiles.
-A Company Presence: Unlike Facebook, which limits profiles to individuals, just about anybody or anything can have a Google profile, which means they'll be able to have a Google+ presence.
-Search Engine Optimization: Google+ will close the loop between people who search for content and those who engage in social channels in new ways that are not possible with Facebook.
Article adapted from the SE WI June PRSA Chapter meeting and "The PR and marketing implications of Google+" by Shel Holtz via Ragan's PR Daily. |
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What we've been up to this month...
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VA team members take in the 'sites' at Bastille Days! | |
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Camera ready! Liz and Phil (not pictured) were interviewed for Fox 6. |
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Looking for Something New to Read this Summer?
Check out our latest blog post for fun and informative books. We have included everything from books about writing and successful marketing in the digital age down to faster reads like Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger and The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. This summer, we have you covered!
Visit http://vollrathpr.wordpress.com/ to read more. |
Vollrath Associates, Inc. is an award-winning full-service public and investor relations agency. We help our clients effectively communicate their story, every day, to customers, employees, shareholders and communities. |
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