Douglas Communications Group » Client news

Marrying traditional and social media coverage

sharlan — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:38:07 +0000

For our client The First Tee of Southeast Michigan, we combined traditional media relations with a social media strategy. The First Tee teaches children nine core values, within the framework of the game of golf We asked TV, radio and print media personalities to come to one of the The First Tee’s classes and talk about how one or more of the nine core values shaped their lives. While we’d have been happy if they mentioned the program, we knew we could generate social media mentions, as parents snapped photos and shared them. Fox Sports’ Trevor Thomspon spoke to a class, as did Lisa Grou, who wrote about the program on her blog, as seen here:

Clipped from: oaklandcountymoms.com (share this clip)

Seize the moment for successful media placements

sharlan — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:21:50 +0000

You’ve heard me say, “Never screw up on a slow news day.” The flip side of that coin is, “Seize the slow news day.” During the 11 p.m. news on a Saturday, WDIV TV aired a story about funeral home owners who had misused money they’d received as pre-payment for funerals. I immediately dashed off a email to the Channel 4 news desk, offering my client, William Sullivan & Son Funeral Directors, to comment on the story. The station called me at 8 a.m. Sunday: Could they interview someone that morning? You bet!

Sullivan VP Michael Lope met the camera person at 9:45 a.m. then emailed the producer several points of advice for people thinking about pre-paying for their funeral. The 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts aired Mike’s comments and the bullet-point list, right underneath the company’s name.

A single breaking news story – traffic pile up, apartment fire, party store shooting – would have derailed us. We took a chance and it paid off.

Do you know how to market to the LGBT community?

sharlan — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:06:56 +0000

LGBT means lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender. Pridesource Media Group helps businesses reach this desirable market through its weekly, free magazine, Between The Lines, and its website, www.pridesource.com.

Douglas Communications Group is providing public relations services for Pridesource Media Group’s Same Sex Wedding Expo May 1 at the Detroit Marriott-Livonia.

According to Harris Interactive, LGBT consumers comprise a $743 billion national market. Here’s what Pride Source publisher Jan Stevenson has to say on the subject:

Marketing to LGBT consumers makes good business sense. The readers of BTL are consisted found to have higher than average levels of disposable income, education, and customer loyalty to the businesses that market directly to them.
The LGBT market is a savvy one. They are sensitive to how advertisers position themselves, and whether they are willing to commit to the market, or if they are just “fishing” for a quick buck. Advertisers that demonstrate consistency have reaped benefits that far exceed their advertising investment.
LGBT sensitive messages are important. Terminology and humor can help or hurt a campaign. It is important to work with marketing professionals that understand the nuances of the LGBT market to insure that your marketing campaign is culturally sensitive.

Publicity persistence pays off

sharlan — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:27:01 +0000

In December our client, William Sullivan & Son Funeral Directors, held remembrance ceremonies at their facilities in Royal Oak and Utica. We sought advance announcements of the events in area media but we also used them as the peg for stories about Sullivan’s first green funeral and the subsequent burial in Michigan’s first natural cemetery, resulting in this story, which originated at the Macomb Daily and also ran in its sibling paper, the Oakland Press.

Occasionally we score immediately with a story that is very newsworthy or of keen interest to a specific reporter. More often, though, media relations success results from a cumulative effort. Over the last two years, we sent releases about several Sullivan events, provided 24/7 contact information to city and assignment desks in case they needed a fast comment on a breaking news story and offered related feature stories with an elder law attorney and Sullivan’s affiliated grief counselors. Persistence and patience finally paid off.

Use your conference or trade show to generate publicity

sharlan — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:34:49 +0000

The annual conferences and expos held by trade and professional associations provide a natural opportunity for those associations to generate publicity. Reporters may want to interview the national experts brought in to speak at the event. Unfortunately, those big events absorb the staff, making it hard for them to find time to focus on a publicity campaign. Douglas Communications Group can provide timely, temporary assistance to help associations capitalize on those opportunities.

October is National Community Planning Month and the Michigan Association of Planning had scheduled Mitchell Silver, president-elect of the American Planning Association, to speak at its October conference. Silver generously wrote a 300-word essay on the importance of planning which we offered to the op-ed pages of daily newspapers around Michigan. Kelli Kavanaugh, development reporter for the E-zine Model D, interviewed Silver, resulting in this article.

A PR seed planted two years ago pays off

sharlan — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:29:37 +0000

When Carlisle/Wortman Associates developed and wrote a technology planning toolkit for Oakland County, we pitched it as a story to the Michigan Township Association’s magazine. At the time, they weren’t interested. Two years passed. This past February, I got an email from Jenn Fiedler, editor of Michigan Townships News. They’d lost the cover story for the April issue. Could Carlisle/Wortman provide them with a 3,000-word toolkit summary by March 1? You bet! Here’s the result 4/28/10

Going in a new direction? Embrace your stupidity

sharlan — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:06:09 +0000

Harvey Ovshinsky’s March 27 “How to produce a career in film and video” presentation at Eastern Michigan University was packed with great career tips, lots of motivation and plain old common sense. If you want to break into a new field, or understand a prospective client or write a better news release, follow Harvey’s advice: “Embrace your stupidity.” Call somebody who knows something – a friend of a friend or even a complete stranger – and ask if they’ll give you 10 minutes of wisdom in their specialty. People love to talk about themselves and their work. Ten minutes will turn into 20 and you’ll have a fresh perspective and maybe even a referral to the next best person to interview. 3/31/10

A new website with a competitive strategy

sharlan — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:46:30 +0000

Here’s one of our latest projects: A new Web site and e-newsletter for Ken Hebenstreit, Bookseller. We chose the developer because they are specialists in online bookstores. They have a superior back end, but their design parameters were limited. Still, we used it to serve our underlying marketing strategy.

Among book sellers, with stores and on the Web, even those named for their founder never feature that person. That’s natural. They want to expand and need to be able to delegate to others. We wanted to differentiate Ken from the rest. In his narrow niche, he will always be a solo act.

Our strategy then was to give the site Ken’s personality, using his photo and writing in a breezy, first-person style. Ken’s product line, first edition fiction, is highly specialized and technical. People spend hundreds, even thousands, of dollars on a book. They have to trust him.

Photographer Robert Stewart took beautifully-lit photos of Ken and his books. Designer Nancy Cohen took her inspiration from Ken’s lavender shirt to create a colorful palette with purple, orange and green. (OK, it looks a little like Fed Ex, but only if you think about it.)

We revised Ken’s Constant Contact e-newsletter to match and created new business cards and new signage and sports shirts for book fairs. 2/26/10

Carlisle/Wortman announcement in Crain’s

sharlan — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:46:14 +0000

Municipalities find that privatizing their building departments is one of the easiest ways to ease their budget woes. Crain’s Detroit Business reports on a new initiative by Carlisle/Wortman Associates. Here’s the Crain’s article or, if you don’t have a subscription (and, pray, why not?), view it here.