Arizona Tries to Put Itself Back on the Tourist Map

Arizona, most recently known for its infamous and controversial new immigration law, is now planning to spend $250,000 on a public relations campaign to counter its negative image and promote itself as a "safe and welcoming destination." According to the Associated Press, the state's hotel trade group will also contribute $30,000 to the effort.

The USA Today article goes on to state that the PR campaign was publicly presented by a tourism task force appointed by Arizona governor, Jan Brewer. With major economic fall-outs for the tourism industry due to several boycotts and travel bans from cities across the country, the AP article goes on to state that Arizona should hire a PR firm "to help manage the existing dialogue and clarify the facts" regarding the immigration law.

Brewer approved the recommendations of the task force, one of which also directs Arizona to "change the tone of the dialogue to reflect the true implications and tangible effects that boycotts have on the lives and families on the most vulnerable tourism employees," AP reports.

Will a PR campaign help improve Arizona's damaged reputation or is the damage irreversible?

Let us know what you think!

Did You Know July is National Hot Dog Month?

I'm sure many people fired up their grills this past weekend for the Fourth of July. The celebration of our nation's independence just wouldn't be the same without hamburgers, hot dogs and fireworks. It is estimated that Americans enjoyed 150 million hot dogs on Independence Day, which is just a fraction of the 20 billion hot dogs they eat in a year! Hot dogs are among our country's most consumed foods, but did you know that July is National Hot Dog Month?

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce named July National Hot Dog Month in 1957. Today, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council is encouraging Americans to join in the celebration. On their website (www.hot-dog.org) you will find statistics, facts and trivia, recipes and free downloadable hot dog place mats.

After browsing the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's website, I realized there is a lot I did not know about hot dogs. I learned that there are many different regional preferences for hot dog eating and that there are hot dog etiquette do's and don'ts.

Will you take the time to learn more about hot dogs in honor of National Hot Dog Month?

Get Glue

One of the most interesting and exciting things about social media is that it is always changing and evolving. Plus, people are always creating new ways for people to use social media to connect.

I recently found out about GetGlue. "GetGlue is a social network for entertainment," the site explains on its homepage. "Check-in and rate things to discover new favorites, see what your friends are into, get stickers and win free stuff."

The site allows you to identify things you like, like movies, authors, and performing artists, and will then recommend other things to you based on your likes and those of your friends.

It's a fascinating concept! I look forward to seeing if this site and others like it will become big in the future. Have you ever used GetGlue?

Holiday Promotions

Holidays are the perfect time to promote a business, an event or a place. On this Fourth of July, organizations around the country are celebrating our nation’s Independence Day. Promotions range from sales to local Independence Day festivities in hopes that the promotions will draw visitors to a business or city.

Wawa landed the role of sponsor for Philadelphia’s 11-day-long celebration: the Wawa Welcome America festival. The hoagie joint will sponsor every festivity ranging from the Life, Liberty & You Independence Day parade in Historic Philadelphia to the free concert, featuring the Goo Goo Dolls and The Roots, as well as fireworks at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

By associating itself with a major holiday and its festivities, the organization is really placing its name in the minds of Philadelphians. Is Wawa a good organization to sponsor the festival or would another business have made a better match? What do you think of a franchise sponsoring a city’s celebrations?

Tips for Pitching to Bloggers

This spring as a staff member for Prowl, I received the assignment to pitch to several community blogs for one of Rebecca Davis Dance Company’s productions. Before I was given this task, the only pitching I had done was over the phone or to newspapers back in high school, so I was certainly not in my element. As I sat down to write the blog pitches, thinking it would only take a few to jot down an email, I realized that I was completely oblivious of proper pitching etiquette. Thankfully, we went over some pitching techniques in a PRowl workshop and I learned some pointers. We decided the e-mails for our purposes should be conversational, short, and relationship building, where other types of pitches might be more formal. I found this article on Ragan.com that gave some helpful pointers for all of you blog pitchers out there:

Do:

1. Know who to contact: This stems back to making sure that you have an updated PR list and you have done your research! Don’t embarrass yourself or whoever you are representing by contacting the wrong person.
2. Create relationships before the pitch: the blogger will be much more likely to post for you if they trust your character and think you can be of mutual use to each other.
3. Have a unique story: people are more likely to respond to a story than a sentence! Make them remember what you have to say.
4. Personalize the pitch: Be knowledgeable about the blogger and their content.
5. Lay out the benefit for the reader: Mutual friendships are useful, make relationships and don’t use people for their blogs. You can help each other!

Don’t:

1. Be insulting: Don’t act like you know what the blogger’s audience would respond to better than they do.
2. Give them your whole life story: Keep it to the point because long e-mails are less likely to be read.
3. Send 100 Bloggers the same email: Blogging is a small community: bloggers talk to each other and if they discover you don’t care about them enough to personalize a short email, it is very unlikely that they will want to work with you.
4. Ask them to review something they haven’t tried: If you are seeking a review, make sure it’s something the blogger is knowledgeable about. They can’t review a book they haven’t read or a product they haven’t tried.
5. Send the same pitch multiple times: Follow-ups are important, but sending the same pitch over again will just get you ignored.

This all boils down to the key principle that building relationships via social media and blogs will benefit you in the long run. When you pitch, think about it from the blogger’s perspective and ask yourself: is this a request that I would be willing to answer? If your answer is no, perhaps you should think before you send.

Proofreading...Backwards?

In my role as Firm Director of PRowl Public Relations, most of my work consists of editing, editing, editing. Not only do I look at strategic messaging, I also have to be aware of all things spelling and grammar. As author Mignon Fogarty of the blog "Tips and Tactics for Effective Proofreading" notes, we all make mistakes and typos slip through, but there a few ways to help diminish these writing gaffes.

Here are some proofreading tools Fogarty has found effective:

1. Read your work backward. Start with the last word in the last sentence and work your way back to the beginning. When reading a sentence from beginning to end, your mind tends to skip over errors because you know what you "meant" to write.
2. Read your work out loud. This tactic is especially helpful when finding comma placement errors.
3. Always proofread a printed version of your work. The computer screen can get the best of us, so warm up the printer.
4. Give yourself more time. Step away from the computer for an hour or so before starting to proofread; this will help clear your mind and approach the writing from a fresh perspective.

We always have recommended tip #3 to our PRowl staff. Print double-sided to help be less wasteful and get out the red pen. I always catch more when I'm free to mark up a page and make column notes. Tips #2 and #4 have also been helpful for me in the past. And if you have roommates listening, don't worry, they already know you're crazy! The best tip of all though - have someone else read your work. As good of an editor as you may be, you often need another pair of eyes to look at the text objectively.

I have never used tip #1 but figured I'd give it a try on this post. Hopefully there are no errors!

Do you have any other proofreading tips to recommend?

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

14 Days Into My First "Real" Job

Here I am almost done with my third full week of my "real" job and time is flying by. After the whirlwind of my last semester at Temple, graduation and post-graduation travel, I thought starting my full-time job would allow me to feel like my life was slowing down. Oh, I was so wrong.

My first few weeks have been busy and exciting, and here are some things I've learned so far:

1. Organization and time management is more important than ever. Sometimes I don't have a deadline for a project, but that doesn't mean that I can surf the web all day! I look at the tasks I have to do and get them done as efficiently as possible. Being given the responsibility to look at what I have to do and decide what needs to be done first is exciting.

2. When people want to help you, let them! Your first job is no time to be "too proud" to ask for help. It's great to take initiative and figure things out for yourself, but if you're confused or need information ask for it. I find that asking questions helps me to better understand the organization I'm working for (The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce) and complete projects better because I have solid background information.

3. Stay involved in things outside of your job. The first few weeks of work I was just trying to get in on time, get settled in my new environment and do the best I could at my job. Now that I'm feeling more comfortable I want to start looking for activities to get involved in. I was an active member of student organizations while I was at Temple and I miss that greatly. I suggest getting involved in a professional organization, an alumni association, a community group or a group devoted to a passion you have. Remember, your job isn't your whole life! Being well rounded is important in college and it's important post-graduation.

In a few weeks I'm sure I'll have more things to share about what I'm learning at my "real job." Until then, I'd love to hear any tips you have for being successful at a new job! Also, make sure to check back next Thursday for another PRowl Alumni Post!