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Forbes Council and Alternatives for Thought Leadership Articles

It’s no secret that publishers are in dire straits. The entire landscape of media is undergoing a seismic shift, beginning with the move from print to online, then with the proliferation of social media, and now with the growth of AI tools. The net result is that once-powerful media publishing houses are going under: -Los …

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The Most Important PR Tip You’ll Ever Read

Having done PR for over 20 years, the key to success in PR is both simple…and difficult. It’s simple to understand, but difficult to actually execute on a regular basis. Because through my years of dealing directly with editors and reporters, I’ve come to the conclusion that if you do not follow this tip, most …

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Why Can’t My PR Agency Guarantee Coverage?

“If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.” That’s an axiom that holds true in almost all walks of life, and it should apply to those who see ads or websites that guarantee a PR agency can get coverage. Face it, we all love guarantees. Money-back guarantees are a staple in consumer …

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How to Use “Newjacking” to Get Press in 2024

Happy new year! As we shake off the cobwebs of the holidays and gear up for a new quarter and a new year, this is a good time to do some PR planning. One of the best ways to get into the news is a tactic called “Newsjacking”. Newsjacking is a term that means finding …

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What’s the Deal with Wire Services? (Updated for 2024)

There’s a lot of misconception out there about what wire services are, how they work and what they can do for you. Not having a clear idea of the benefits and limitations of wire services can end up costing you a lot more money that you need to spend. Q: What is a “wire service”? …

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5 Steps to Getting Your Own Wikipedia Page

  One of the top requests we receive as an agency is to help clients create a Wikipedia page. It’s understandable since having a Wikipedia page for your company or an individual is sort of like the official Internet stamp of approval. Like it or not, we see Wikipedia as having a high level of …

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To Spend or Not to Spend on Marketing During a Recession

As of mid-2023, inflation is high, layoffs in tech have started, and many prognosticators are calling for a recession towards the end of 2023 or early 2024. Having worked in the tech industry for over twenty years and lived through the dot com crash of 2001 and the Great Recession of 2008, I’ve seen firsthand …

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Comparison of Wire Services for Press Release Distribution

Updated as of May 2023 Few things are more confusing than deciding which wire service to use for press release distribution. Free or paid? SEO add on? Are images free? At Firecracker, we figured if we were having problems, imagine everyone else. So here is a comparison of some of the more well-known wire service …

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5 Lessons to Learn from Silicon Valley Bank’s Collapse

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse was as swift as it was complete. And that’s what’s so troubling. It was the second biggest bank failure since Washington Mutual’s in 2008. I distinctly remember standing in line at my local WaMu to pull out what (little) funds we had at that time. In full startup mode, cash wasn’t …

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