RE: Email

By Chris Daley

Recently I found myself turning into “That Guy” when it comes to responding to the numerous emails I receive each day. Instead of the well thought-out, professional emails, I used to write in my earlier PR days, some of my recent responses have looked like this: “Ok, will get back soon” … “Thx” … “sure” … “Pls send info.” I apologize if you are reading this and recently received one of those emails from me… it was a busy summer.

I was curious to see what some professionals thought, or if there had been any recent articles or blogs written on the subject of email etiquette and correspondence. I wanted to see if anyone had advice for how to manage my growing list of emails in my inbox and if anyone could give me a sense of what proper email etiquette should be.

I found this recent blog - Email etiquette: how long is too long to reply? - written by Amber MacArthur of The Globe and Mail, interesting. Seems she’s having the same issues as me, and I’m sure I’m not alone in a society that has us constantly having to respond to various email accounts, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

I’m going to continue to work on this Email thing in my professional career. It’s not going anywhere and it’s a critical form of communication in our society, so I think it’s important for everyone to master. For now, here are a few tips I can pass along which get me through some email issues…

• Avoid the email train. If you sense an issue arising or an email has numerous clarifying questions, pick up the phone and call the person. This stops the email train in its tracks, and usually I find there isn’t even an issue or questions to begin with.
  
  


• Try not to get offended by a short response and don’t base a person’s personality off of email. If you are going to be short, be professional and be open to the fact that we are all very busy people. Email was invented to serve as a more casual way to communicate.
  
  


• If a reply requires some thought and you do not have time to respond, send the person a short email stating you received the message and let them know you will respond after you’ve given some thought to their question.

Chris Daley is a Senior Account Executive. Contact him at chris@maroonpr.com

Meet Courtney Carey

By Courtney Carey; Interview by Abby Draper

Courtney Carey is Maroon PR's Project Manager. Contact her at courtney@maroonpr.com.

Is the End Near For All Print Newspapers?

By Matt Saler

I was pretty shocked to read the other day that The New York Times publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., said the following words: “We will stop printing the New York Times sometime in the future.” He did not give a specific date to this inevitability but it begs the question… if the most read daily newspaper in the country goes strictly to digital, is it the beginning of the end for print newspapers as we know it?

Clearly, a lot of folks in the media industry were buzzing about this news, as many see digital as the present and future. If the majority of the revenue generated by the Times is from its online revenue, it only makes sense that this would be the direction that they would move toward. Business Insider blogger Henry Blogget conducted some interesting research on the topic and came up with the following numbers:


“We estimate that the NYT currently spends about $200 million a year on its newsroom and generates about $150 million of online revenue. If the paywall is highly successful—attracting, say, 1 million subscribers who pay $100 a year—this will add another $100 million of online subscription revenue (assuming the company doesn't lose ad revenue). With $250 million of revenue, the NYT might be able to sustain newsroom costs of about $100 million.

Now, a $100 million newsroom budget is a HUGE newsroom budget--one that most online publications would kill for. So the New York Times isn't going anywhere. But $100 million is also a lot less than the New York Times's current newsroom budget.

So if Arthur Sulzberger is right that the New York Times will eventually have to stop printing the print paper--and we certainly think he is--his company is likely to have to be restructured.”


As one who enjoys opening up a paper and reading through the news of the day, should I be worried that these days are quickly coming to an end? Stay tuned.

Matt Saler is a Senior Account Executive. He can be reached at matt@maroonpr.com.

Google Introduces Google Instant

By Abby Draper

Through all of this week, Google has been modifying their logo in anticipation of a press conference said to announce something new in search technology. On Tuesday, the Google logo was spelled out with balls that turned into a game as you rolled your mouse over the letters. This morning, “Google” appeared grey until text was entered and it changed to its usual bright colors.

At 12:30 EST, we watched online as Google introduced “Google Instant.” Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, began the conference by discussing some of the new features of Google Search in 2010 including: Google Caffeine, Real-Time Search, timeline views, spell corrections, enhancements to its Q&A, stars in search, and the redesign of Google itself, by playing the commercial they launched during the Superbowl.

Mayer went on to explain that while these changes have made Google search much more productive, the current search time is still too long. According to Google, it takes a user nine seconds to enter a query, 800 ms for networking time, 300 ms for serving results, 15 seconds to select a search result, and most people take extra time to think. With these stats, Mayer introduced “A Fundamental Shift to Search – Google Instant.”

Google Instant, which will roll out slowly through the day, allows you to see search results as you type.

“Google Instant delivers results instantly in a way that has never been done before," said Jonathan Effrat, Google product manager, in a video about Google Instant. "Now, results appear automatically as you type, with no need to hit enter or click the search button. as soon as you see what need predicted in gray text, you can stop typing, and just look down to find your results waiting...see results instantly lets you refine your search as you type — looking for a bird? A map? A recipe? You'll know instantly if you're on the right track to finding what you want."

Mayer was joined on stage by Johanna Wright, Director of Product Management, and Othar Hansson, Senior Staff Software Engineer who took us all through several examples of how Google Instant works, proving its incredible speed and ability to predict what you’re searching for.

While Google has had a few issues in the recent past with other efforts like Google Buzz, it seems as though Google Instant has launched without a hitch. We will find out for sure today!

Abby Draper is the Manager of Social Media. Contact her at abby@maroonpr.com.

Social Media Mistake by Washington Post Columnist

By Stefen Lovelace

It’s a new age for journalism. Every reporter has a Twitter handle and news is distributed to readers instantly. Journalists try to beat the competition on the Internet, Twitter and Facebook rather than in the next day’s newspaper.

This new age comes with a price though. Anything you put out there – whether it be a bylined story, or just a simple tweet – will be read as fact. With so much news, readers have a hard time filtering what’s true and what’s not.

Which brings us to Washington Post columnist Mike Wise. The longtime respected columnist made one of the bigger blunders of his career on Monday.

Wise tweeted that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would be suspended for five games. Roethlisberger currently is suspended for six, but many have speculated that suspension may get reduced. The quarterback is a lightning rod for controversy right now, and diehard football fans are following any and every news item that comes out about him.

The tweet about Roethlisberger by Wise was a lie. He tweeted three times afterwards saying he had sources to back up his claim. All of this was made-up, or “a test” as Wise put it, to show how quick news and false news can spread throughout the internet.

It was a terrible mistake by Wise. I understand what he was trying to prove, but his approach was unthinkable. All a journalist has is his or her word and making up news is a cardinal sin in the journalism profession.

A journalist’s reputation “is on the line with every tweet, for better or worse,” [Columbia University Digital Media Professor Sree] Sreenivasan said. “People have a reasonable expectation that it’s accurate or the best of what you know at the moment.”

Wise was suspended for a month from The Post for his mistake. I think that’s about right, especially considering The Post is one of the most credible and well-respected newspapers in the country. Since social media is still so new, and there’s no real precedent for what to do in this situation, there was clear disagreement as to whether Wise’s punishment was just.

Yet within The Post, there was disagreement about whether the punishment fit the crime. Andrew Alexander, the paper’s ombudsman, wrote on his blog that Mr. Wise was “lucky he wasn’t fired.” Howard Kurtz, the paper’s media writer, wrote in a message on Twitter that the suspension “seems overly harsh to me.”

Twitter is a great resource for journalists and wonderful for spreading news. But this incident once again shows the importance of using caution and thinking before putting something up in the social media universe for the world to see.

Stefen Lovelace is an Associate Account Executive. Contact him at stefen@maroonpr.com.

Philadelphia Bloggers Facing Tax

By Mitchell Schmale

The City of Brotherly Love has been in the headlines recently for not showing a lot of love to bloggers located in Philadelphia.

The uproar began when Philadelphia’s city revenue officials sent letters to local residents who had reported income with the IRS, but had not paid for a business privilege license in the city. The license fee of $50 per year or $300 for a lifetime, with additional taxes on profits, allows business owners to operate a business in the city. The list of local residents included bloggers in the city who made income from their blogs (no matter how small) by charging for content, ads, etc.

Philadelphia bloggers were outraged by the attempt to collect taxes and claimed that the fee, as well as additional taxes on their limited earnings, would infringe on their capability to run their small blogs. Many bloggers claim that their use of the Internet is a free speech issue and that the earnings on their blogs is often not enough to buy a couple of cheese steak subs. In fact, one Philadelphia blogger claimed he had made only $11 on his blog in a year.

City officials, however, have made it clear that the tax only affects bloggers charging for a service or advertising and not blogs that are strictly a hobby or personal that share content and opinions for free. City officials also contend that the privilege fee is in place for businesses of all sizes and industries, not just bloggers.

The debate will continue on whether Philadelphia tax officials are being too aggressive in pursuing tax dollars from all possible sources, or if their efforts are hindering free speech and the ability of local residents to blog and share their opinions on the Internet.

In the meantime, city officials in Philadelphia are looking at the issue more closely for bloggers in proposing legislation that would keep the fee for the business license, but would limit when the additional taxes on profits kicks in. Until then, the war of words will rage on in the Philadelphia’s blogosphere while the bloggers keep blogging and the tax officials keep collecting.

Mitchell Schmale is the Vice President of Business for Maroon PR. Contact him at mitchell@maroonpr.com.

Bon Appetit Baltimore

By Tim Richardson

Food brings people together. Whether it’s a first date, a special occasion or just catching up with friends, going out to dinner is always a popular idea.

Baltimore and roughly a dozen other cities around the country capitalize on that notion as twice a year (winter and summer) they offer a weeklong celebration of cuisine called “Restaurant Week.” During this time in Baltimore, more than 100 restaurants throughout the city offer customers the opportunity to enjoy a three-course dinner (not including alcohol) from special prix-fixed menus for a reduced set rate. Some restaurants also offer a lunch menu.

Baltimore’s summer edition of Restaurant Week took place August 13-22 and featured a set price of $35.10 for dinner. The primary objective of the promotion is to entice diners who have been watching their budgets to venture out to a local restaurant for an enjoyable gourmet meal at an affordable price…and it usually occurs in a restaurant that they have not visited previously.

But from a marketing standpoint, it’s also a great vehicle for restaurateurs to promote their restaurants to the community in an effort to attract new business. People are more selective these days on how they spend their discretionary income. So competing against dining at a local restaurant are activities such as taking in a play, going to a concert, or attending a sporting event. That said, showcasing the area’s restaurants and helping diners discover new establishments not only highlights the many offerings available in Baltimore, but it brings an economic surge to the area. By offering a diverse selection at an affordable price, restaurants can sell around 1,000 Restaurant Week menus during the promotion. In an economy where people have elected to eat at home more instead of dine out, that traffic and revenue are clearly significant to the restaurant industry. Some restaurants have even chosen to extend their Restaurant Week specials, varying in length by the restaurant.

Restaurant Week is also a resourceful PR initiative for Visit Baltimore and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore in how they market the city. Visit Baltimore is the official sales and marketing organization for Baltimore, while the Downtown Partnership is a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to make downtown Baltimore a great place for businesses, employees, residents and visitors. During Baltimore’s Restaurant Week this summer, over 4,200 people “liked” the promotion on Facebook and it was “re-tweeted” by more than 200 users on Twitter. Stories also appeared in the mainstream media on TV and in print/online outlets about the restaurants featured in Restaurant Week, the popularity of the promotion, etc.

And word is spreading to other cities about Baltimore’s Restaurant Week. According to an article in the August 3 issue of The Baltimore Sun, the culinary offerings of the city were a main topic when Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake spoke earlier this summer at a meeting in Oklahoma City. The Mayor was addressing the U.S. Conference of Mayors about what will be taking place when the group visits Baltimore next summer, and a number of the questions from her fellow city leaders concerned the food in Baltimore.

I’m a fan of Restaurant Week. My wife and I participate in both of the seasons in which it takes place and enjoy the opportunity to try new places that peak our interest from the list of participating restaurants. In fact, one of the restaurants we visited last summer is now the place where we dine throughout the year to celebrate all of our special occasions. That would not be the case if my wife had not said, “I’ve always wanted to try that place…let’s check it out during Restaurant Week.”

So the concept of a special, low-cost menu that allows people the opportunity to enjoy a night out while also generating interest about the city’s local restaurants and boosting the economy seems like a pretty good deal for everyone.

Tim Richardson is the Executive Vice President of Maroon PR. Contact him at tim@maroonpr.com.