Now, like I said, here is a man that all along has not been praised for his compassion, much less his PR skills, but the skeptic in me has to wonder, here’s a guy who is not from Utah but who keeps invoking and using the name and phrases associated with turning the situation over to the “Lord’s” hands. Is he really that PR clueless? I don’t know, maybe he’s trying to appeal to the hearts and minds of the state and locals knowing that a good majority of Utahns are Christians.

My Two Cents: Whether intentional o unintentional, knowing your publics is always a good thing. Mr. Murray has a lot of questions to answer and it’s hard to say whether the last few weeks have served as a case-in-point that he needs serious PR help, so my question remains, is he PR savvy or PR stupid? What do you think?

With anything we write one of the goals is to get people’s attention, headlines are intended to do this in a newspaper. By avoiding what we call editorializing, that’s sharing one’s opinion beyond being objective and credible, writers and editors find catchy ways to get readers’ attention to read stories, even if it’s only the first few sentences of the story, or the lead. Scan the newspaper and see what, by headline alone, catches your attention. By the same token, when writing headlines for your blog posts try to make them catch, you have to think that with the millions of pieces of information available on the Web, if you get your content in front of a potential reader the title or headline is where conversion takes place. Granted, this takes some practice but will ultimately be one major way to get a good strong following from more distant readers (people who may not know you and simply come across or stumble onto your blog).

I was looking at Engadget the other day and this headline just jumped off the page at me,

What a headline, he got the gist of the story across, threw his twist on the story to get my attention and it worked. Compare this with “My thoughts for today” and unless I know you I probably won’t click on your blog to read about your thoughts.

My Two Cents: Although I think that user-generated content is what makes the Web great, I also think we can do a better job overall. Not only will writing more thought-provoking, catchier headlines cast a better light on us the writers, but it could also potentially drive traffic to our site.

Anyway, Seth makes some great points on achieving the top in anything, whether our professional lives or businesses, or whatever, the Dip is what separates the achievers from the quitters–let me say that quitting isn’t that bad, Seth explains all about that too.

My Two Cents: Seth made a great presentation and my guess is that his book is a deeper journey through his concepts and ideas, it would be beneficial to read the book, plus it’s a small book, in case you were concerned it was too big.

I am probably one of the last to hear about youtube and the lonelygirl15.com hoax/stunt??? It was brought to my attention by Mike Pogue of the New York Times.

My Two Cents: This youtube event reminds me of the .com vs .org discussion wherein we need to know the source of information to determine credibility. I am not familiar with thelonelygirl15 story but from the sounds of it, it’s pretty innovative, regardless of who is promulgating the videos and site. The danger I see is that, in an era when trust and transparency are in more and more demand, events like this can blur the lines and hurt credibility. Time will tell, and again, this is part of the learning curve.

What do you think? How important is disclosure in advertising? Do you see this as detrimental to corporate or brand trust?

I think the problem with any new media channel is that we don’t quite know how to use it. Like a new born baby figuring out how to use its arms and legs, we know the channel is there and that it works, but it hasn’t been put to the test like many traditional media, i.e., regulated!

The other sad fact is that there are those in our industry who are dishonest–I know, I had a hard time believing it too when I found out. We definitely benefit from the nature of social media which relies on a very symmetrical, all-way communication model. If someone were to abuse a new media channel like Digg or Del.icio.us or YouTube, it is probably safe to say that there are enough of us are opinionated to say something and reverse or stop the abuse before it becomes a trend.

My Two Cents: the ease of use of new media channels does not remove the learning curve–in some cases, like YouTube, the novelty may serve to steepen the curve.

What do you think?