Tina Fey for VP?

As most of us are aware, Sarah Palin and Tina Fey look freakishly similar. Although Fey's three SNL skits are hilarious, have they been confusing the public as to who the real Palin is?

It is less than a month until the November Presidential Election and the media are playing a huge roll in the mind-set of American voters. This Presidential Election is going to make the history books, and there are still a lot of undecided voters out there. If the media keep playing these games, could people start to get confused and base their decisions off of SNL and other satirical media outlets?

So while you're deciding on who to vote for, make sure you know who the real candidates are, instead of their celebrity impersonators. Look at their campaign websites, watch clips of the debates and make sure you're not being negatively influenced by the media!

Pitching to the Media and Doing Follow Up Calls

There are many exciting parts of public relations. One of my favorites is creating a pitch letter or press release and then pitching it to the media. I'm lucky enough to have had some experience with this thanks to PRowl, and here are the tips I can offer.

For pitching to the media:

1. Once you have written your fabulous release or pitch letter and made sure it's perfect in every way, it's time to send it out! First, decide if you're going to personalize the emails or not. If you do personalize them, start with a professional greeting.
2. After that, copy and paste the text into the body of the email. Make sure it looks the way it should (spacing especially.) No one wants to read sloppy text.
3. After that, you can attach the document at the end of the email. Some people like to open them and read them in Word. Others are suspicious of attachments, because many times they carry viruses.
4. After the email is finished, send it to yourself to make sure it comes out the way you want it to. If it does, go ahead and send the email to your media list!

*You can also fax releases, alerts and letters to your media list. In this case, make sure to use a cover letter.

For follow up calls:

1. Before doing follow up calls, I like to make sure I have any information I might need in front of me. This way, I can answer questions without having to search for the answers.
2. After the person answers your call, make sure to introduce yourself. Tell them your name, where you're from and what you sent them. It's also helpful to say what form you sent the information in, like an email or a fax.
3. Make sure they have received the information, and ask them if they have questions about it. This is when you can offer them additional information, like pictures.
4. If they have what they need, then thank them for their time and ask them to contact you with any further questions.
5. All the while, be sure to speak clearly and slowly. Also, always be polite and professional. You never know when you'll be calling them again!

As always, feel free to send us your comments and advice!

Resume Tips

Yesterday we posted some examples of some extra creative and awesome resumes.

However, some of us are not that creative (though we should all strive to be!) so I would like to give a few tips on the classic one-page resume.

Remember that when applying for a job, your resume needs to set you apart. There needs to be something special about you that makes the potential employer put your resume in the yes pile.

-Grammar and spelling! If there is one thing I have learned, especially in PR is that one spelling mistake can cost you a job or internship. Check, double-check, and then check again, to make sure that there are no errors.

-Internships count as work experience! Just because you didn't get paid, doesn't mean it wasn't work. I used to think that extracurricular activites (like PRowl Public Relations) would just count as an activity on my resume, but was told by a PR professional that the experience I am getting there is valuable and needs to be addressed as a work-experience. I then moved it to work experiences and wrote up details about what I do, and every interview I have had since, I have been asked about it.

-One-page! Keep it to one page. Only the important things need to be on the resume. It's really cool that you were the editor of your high school newspaper, but that might not be the most important thing for your resume at this point in time. Try to keep it current, and to the things that will most impress a potential employer.

-Quantify- You did 42 press releases at your last internship? WOW. Instead of just writing, "Drafted press releases," include the number! This lets the potential employer know that you were trusted enough by the company to do actual work, and numbers are impressive.

I know I am missing a lot of tips here, but I specifically left this open because I would like to start a discussion in the comments section.

Students and PR professionals alike, please let us know your best resume tips!

Creative Resumes

Everyone needs a resume, right? Well, why not make yours creative?

Click here to check out Francesco Mugnai's blog entry compiling 20 creative resumes.

Also, Click here to watch Holly Grande's sing-a-long resume..How much more creative can you get than that?

Michael Nutter: Philadelphia PR’s Worst Nightmare?

No, not necessarily, but I would be surprised if communications directors weren’t shaking their heads and the tourism industries weren’t crying. I was shocked to be skimming through Section A in the Wall Street Journal yesterday to find Mayor Nutter’s face plastered in the center of the article, “Crime Hasn’t Dropped as Much As Our Interest in Talking About It.” In summary, the article was about the lack of media attention that local crime has been getting recently.

Yes, I am aware, as all Philadelphia residents are, that crime has skyrocketed in Philadelphia recently. Four police officers have been killed since the beginning of the year. It is public knowledge that Philadelphia is not the safest place in the country right now, and the WSJ has every right to write about it. But, on that note, does our mayor, someone who cares about bringing people and their money into Philadelphia, have to comment on the crime by making a joke about how “al Qaeda wouldn’t last a day in parts of Philadelphia.” He goes on to say, “I’ve got gangsters with .45s that would run them outta town.”

Yes, we have “gangsters with .45s” here, as do many other cities, but that doesn’t mean that we want our mayor making a joke about it in a publication who has a print circulation of 1,717,363 in the United States. If you were deciding where to take a vacation and read about the “gangsters” in Philadelphia that are bad enough to run al Qaeda out of town, would you want to spend your week off hoping to come home alive? I doubt it.

As a public relations professional, it is important to make sure the public knows that the crime problem exists, but it is also important to stress the great things that Philadelphia has to offer. Looking from a PR perspective, I believe Mayor Nutter and Philadelphia would have benefited more by commenting on the crime problems that the city faces and how a greater national spotlight on local crime could be beneficial in the fight against it.

But hey, maybe that’s just me. Thoughts?

Tips for Finding an Internship!

There are plenty of things you can do to get an internship while you’re still in school. The best advice focuses on the connections you make and networking in general.

Guest speakers: The guest speakers your teachers and professors invite to class are more than likely professionals in the industry. Make a positive impression when asking questions and chatting with them afterwards. Ask about internship opportunities, get their business cards and send a thank you e-mail within a couple of days. The thank you e-mail should briefly sum up your interest after hearing from them in class. Remember to re-introduce yourself and if you want to, you could even attach your resume.

Listservs: Make sure you are getting those listserv e-mails for your major or specific school within the university. For public relations majors at Temple University, there is a listserv you can join, which offers updates, but more importantly internship opportunities in the area. Temple’s PRSSA chapter also has a listserv, which sends out internship opportunity notifications as well.

Word of mouth: Keep your eyes and ears alert! Ask around, if you are looking for an internship make it known. Talk to your professors or ask other students how they got their internships. Companies who have internship positions are regularly trying to fill those positions. Though it may usually be at the beginning of fall, spring and summer semesters, getting the inside scoop from the current interns at a company is always useful.

Good luck!

There's Nothing Like October Baseball

Happy October everyone! It's that time of year again for postseason baseball!

As everyone is getting prepared to watch their favorite teams throughout the day, TBS is hard at work too. Not only are they prepping their TV announcers, but they're also making some last-minute changes to their website with MLB.com.

My favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies, play at 3:00 this afternoon - right in the middle of my day, and taking off of work for baseball isn't a very good excuse. I'm sure that there are plenty of other people in the same situation - this is where TBS and MLB.com come to the rescue!

This article explains the unique features TBS and MLB.com have in store for October. Not only are they offering multiple live videos of the games, they are also using social media! You can interact with other fans around the country in live chat rooms and vote in different polls throughout the month! Today's advancing technology is amazing; allowing people all over the country to interact with each other from the comfort of their own homes...or offices.

Go Phillies, and play ball!