Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli is a public relations pro's worst nightmare and proof that no matter how good your PR company may be, if you don't listen to their advice, it's going to come back and kick you in the teeth. In case you haven't heard by now, Shkreli's company has been called out in articles around the globe for raising the price of its recently acquired drug Daraprim from $13.50 to nearly $750 a pill. What reason, other than greed, makes someone take a drug that's been around for more than 60 years and jack up the price some 5,000 percent. Daraprim is used to treat a parasitic infection that can be life threatening to some including those with AIDS and cancer. By doing what he did, Shkreli has been labeled, among other things, the most hated man in America. Even Donald Trump called him a spoiled brat. And, every day the news just gets worse for Shkreli. After taking to Twitter and essentially giving anyone who criticized him the finger, Shkreli put his Twitter account on private and backed down in the wake of a tremendous backlash. He's since come out saying it was all a mistake and he would lower the price of the drug. But it's too little too late. He's being blacklisted by a lot of people, including the drug and biotech industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which tweeted "@TuringPharma does not represent the values of @PhRMA member companies." Big Pharma's efforts to distance itself from Shkreli is in a sense ironic since it too has been criticized for years for essentially doing the same thing. He's even prompted Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to come up with a plan to take on the entire pharma industry. So, not only has Shkreli given himself and his company a black eye, but he's shone a negative light on the entire industry.
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9/19/2015 0 Comments Infographic tools for dummiesA lot has been written about the use of infographics. Just Google “Why use infographics” and dozens of articles appear. I don’t need anyone to give me five reasons why I should be using them, I know I should, the challenge has been how to start. I will be the first to admit I am no artist, my stick men even need help, so I wasn’t sure that creating infographics was the way to go. However, I found a number of websites that have allowed me to become more creative, by either working with pre-existing templates or, as I have become more adept, creating my own. Here are a few that I have tried. All are free, but do offer more if you pay. One that I have been using a lot – mostly because of its simplicity – is canva.com. This website allows you to create not only infographics, but also posts for social media including memes, Facebook covers, Instagram posts, Twitter posts, magazine covers, etc. I like this one because you can use an existing template, modify an existing template or create your own template. Changing backgrounds, fonts and layouts is simple and, although they offer a limited amount of artwork for free (you can get more for the paid version) you can upload your own art as well. I created this infographic using canva.com Easel.ly is another free site that allows users to create infographics from scratch, or start from one of the pre-made "Vhemes." I have used this site as well and found it to be as easy as canva.com. What I like about it is that others share their infographics, which is great when you are looking for ideas for your own infographics. I created this visual with easel.ly.
We work as strategic partners with clients, learning about their business, creating a PR plan and develop key messages. If there is a product or service involved, our job is to create and build awareness. If there is the possibility of something bad happening, we work with clients to mitigate the damage. This doesn’t mean we try to whitewash a problem, rather we help them to find ways to respond in the best way.
It’s been a while since South Florida has seen a hurricane, so many people either may never have experienced one, or they have become complacent and unprepared. As a native Floridian, I have weathered many a storm. And, as a journalist, I saw up close and personal the devastation hurricanes can bring. Preparing for a storm can be a lot like preparing for a public relations crisis. We hope it never comes, but if it does, we can make it through if we are prepared. As Tropical Storm Erika makes its way through the Atlantic, many people are taking a wait-and-see attitude. But is that really the best approach? As with public relations, probably not. These days you can’t take a stick-your-head-in-the-sand approach and hope that whatever happens blows over. As a hurricane nears the last thing you want to do is decide that now is the time to run out and buy plywood for your windows and stock up on water and batteries. The same applies in public relations – prepare for the worst and hope for the best. The following are some things you should put into place before a crisis occurs: If you are a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or have even been around kids for an extended period of time, you likely are familiar with Minecraft. If you haven’t seen it, it’s basically a game that provides the user with a blank slate where you can create your own world – sort of like high-tech Legoland, but without the mess. My youngest daughter had been bugging me for a while to let her have it, and this summer I gave in and purchased it for her Samsung Galaxy tablet so she can play with her friends while at camp and at home. While few things hold my daughter’s interest for long, Minecraft has gotten a hold of her and I am finding (to my surprise) that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I asked her why it’s so compelling and her answers made me think that while this may be a game, it’s also a form of social interaction and a teaching tool. At first she said she liked it because “you get to build what you want” – and build she has. In the span of a week she had an entire “village” complete with a wishing well, hair salon, library, housing for her butlers (who assist her) and a storage unit for her food, which she has filled with lots of cake. Here’s where the social interaction and teaching comes in: Minecraft also allows users to connect with, share and learn from others. She spends time in-person with friends learning and talking about the game. Going to a new camp can be scary when you don’t know anyone, but the game has given her something she has in common with new acquaintances. When she is home, away from her friends, she also can visit their worlds and spend time with them virtually. I recently was asked to give a presentation to a group of business people. One of the things they asked me to do was tell a little about myself. This forced me to sit down and to think about who I was and how my career had evolved over the last few decades. Before going into public relations, I spent my formative years as a journalist learning and honing my craft. But I rarely let grass grow under my feet. Some might say I job jumped too much and sometimes I even worried that perhaps I should have stayed in some jobs longer than I did. Back in my parents’ day companies instilled in their workers a sense of loyalty. As a result, you took a job and tried to hold onto it until you retired. But that is changing. I recently read an article that said U.S. workers have an average job tenure of only 4.6 years. A Careerbuilder study published in May found more than half (55 percent) of employers surveyed said they hired a job-hopper and nearly one-third (32 percent) of all employers said they have come to expect workers to job-hop. The next time you are considering a new hire consider this: Job jumpers bring with them a sense of excitement and desire to learn and share their knowledge. They are more adaptable and can get up to speed more quickly than those who have grown stagnant in their jobs. Many jump because they are recruited and are desirable to have as employees. That’s not to say there aren’t negatives to hiring job jumpers, but the onus is on the company to make them want to stay. As for me, I think my job jumping days are over. I like it where I am in life. Susan R. Miller is founder of Garton-Miller Media, a full-service, South Florida based public relations firm. Susan is a former journalist with more than 30 years of experience. Everyone talks about how, as summer heats up in South Florida, business cools down. Although it is true that many people hit the road on vacation, while others spend weeks or even months at a time at their summer home, for those of us in public relations, summer provides the perfect opportunity to reach out to the media. Many reporters actually find it difficult to track down long-time sources. This provides those of us in public relations with the chance to offer up new ones. I know that when I was a reporter, I often went back to the same tried-and-true sources for their insights and comment. But I always kept a Rolodex (that's how long I was in the journalism profession) of possible alternatives. Many of them later became my go-to people, even after the summer months ended and my usual sources returned. Summer is also the perfect time to take advantage of those days when your clients are gone. While you may be tempted to take an extra-long lunch, or just ditch the office and head to the beach, this is actually a great opportunity to do some planning. Why not go through your media lists and make necessary updates? While you are at it, give some reporters/editors a call and see if they can make time for lunch. Look at those editorial calendars that may have been pushed off to the side gathering dust while you were busy putting out daily fires. What opportunities are coming up that you might be able to pitch? Take the time to craft pitches today that can be used in the future. If you write blogs for your clients, topic shop and write a few evergreens that can be put into the mix when things start to get busy. Look for opportunities to sharpen your existing skills or learn new ones. Have you ever wanted to learn iMovie, Photoshop WordPress? Now is the time to start. Yes, summer is a time for everyone to get a little R & R, but it's also the perfect time to take advantage of some downtime by building your skills, relationships and business. Susan R. Miller is founder of Garton-Miller Media, a full-service, South Florida based public relations firm. Susan is a former journalist with more than 30 years of experience. Many of us take for granted the technology we use. From our iPad mini to our iPhone, not to mention our computers with their lightening-speed internet, and new Smart TVs. But for many nonprofits, budgets are tight and the latest technology gadgets often have to take a backseat to more pressing items -- or more importantly the organization's mission. So, when RightShip offered to help client Seafarers' House at Port Everglades by providing them with a $7,220 grant grant to upgrade their aging server and purchase a few computers, it was like manna from heaven for Seafarers' House. Executive Director Lesley Warrick and her team are thrilled.
We are always hard at work looking for opportunities to get our clients in the news. Our extensive list of media contacts, coupled with our daily efforts to keep on top of trending news topics and requests for interviews, is part of what makes us successful. When a reporter with U.S. News and World Report was looking for someone to comment for a story he was writing on marriage the second time around, we immediately set off and pitched long-time client and family law attorney Lori Barkus. They key to any successful PR efforts, however, is to have a client who is always willing and able to be interviewed and quoted. The job of a public relations professional is to find the opportunities, the client's job is to accept them -- together it's a win-win. Click here to read the story. There’s been a great deal of chatter and more than a few articles written in the past few days about Google’s “Phantom Update.” But until now, Google has remained silent. As the story has gained steam on the Internet, now comes word straight from the search engine that it has changed the way it is assessing content quality. Not only are the days of keyword stuffing gone, but this latest update only serves to prove what many of those in the public relations, social media and blogging arena have been saying for a while now – quality is king. If you haven’t heard, Google has once again made changes to its core-ranking algorithm in terms of how it processes quality signals. As a result, many websites have reported a noted decrease in website traffic. |
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Garton-Miller Media is a full-service, South Florida-based public relations firm. Founder Susan R. Miller has 30 years of experience as a writer, journalist and PR professional. Categories
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We are a results-oriented, Raleigh, North Carolina-based public relations and content marketing firm serving clients nationwide. We focus our practice on media relations, content creation and social media.