Why Audio Podcasts are Better Than Video 12 Aug 10:49 AM (2 months ago)

Podcasting has officially become mainstream, but it happened in a way that many (myself included) didn’t really expect. It happened due to video content.

When podcasting became a thing in 2004, shows were audio only. They were literally on-demand radio shows. I began podcasting in 2007, and when I launched “Startup BizCast” that year, it was still very much an audio medium. That was the case until fairly recently, when Google Podcasts shut down and Google started pushing “podcasters” over to YouTube. Basically, YouTube started referring to shows created for the platform as “podcasts” even though they were video shows. Spotify has also been pushing video as a “podcast” for a while. It caught on.

Now, many people think of video when they think of podcasting. Many of these YouTube video podcasts also have an audio version that’s available in places like Apple Podcasts, but the video version is really the primary product.

As a result, if you or your organization are thinking of starting a podcast, you may actually be thinking about producing a YouTube video show. If that’s the case, you’ll want to think about whether it’s a mistake. Here are a few reasons it might be.

REASON ONE: TIME
An audio podcast can easily be recorded and released on the same day, if necessary. It’s possible for a video podcast to accomplish that same feat, but only if it’s just a recorded Zoom conversation with no editing done. That’s a pretty dull proposition, and would make your organization look cheap. Also, if that’s all you plan on doing, what’s the point of the video? More on that later. If your organization is going to do video podcasting correctly, they’ll want at least a two camera setup (ideally three), good audio equipment, proper lighting, and extensive editing done to make the product look professional. That extensive editing can sometimes take days.

REASON TWO: MONEY
Remember in the last paragraph when you read about the two or three camera setup, audio equipment, lighting, and extensive editing? Equipment costs money, and unless you have a video production capability in house, editors cost money as well. To be sure, equipment for an audio podcast costs money as well, but a couple of good microphones can be had for around $150. One decent video camera costs more than that, and you still have to buy microphones. That doesn’t even take into account the possibility of having to modify a space to look good on camera. Audio editing, when contracted out, also costs money of course. But, it takes far less time to edit an audio podcast, and thus it’s far less expensive to produce.

REASON THREE: ACCESSIBILITY
Forget the time and expense of video podcasting for the moment, and think about your audience. Are they busy? Do they have time to sit down and watch your show for 30-60 minutes (or more) while sitting in front of their computers or staring at their phones? It’s a bit of a big ask when you’re creating a corporate podcast. This is why an audio show makes so much more sense. Your audience has the option to listen while driving, exercising, doing chores, or literally whenever they have time. They’re not tied to a video screen.

REASON FOUR: WHAT DOES VIDEO REALLY ADD?
As I mentioned before, many video podcasters create an audio version that is a “true” podcast and can be listened to wherever. The fact that these shows can do that, and their listeners really don’t miss anything, is one of my favorite arguments to make when disputing whether audio or video is best. If you go through the trouble and expense of creating a well-produced video podcast, and people can enjoy it just as much without the pictures, then why do video at all? Unless you’re famous and people like to look at you, what is your audience really gaining from the video in the first place?

Obviously it’s your choice whether you want to do a podcast or a YouTube video, but make sure you understand the decision you’re making before you make it.

Historic House Tour Returns With Four New Homes for 2024 26 Jul 2024 7:13 AM (last year)

Kimages

(Charles City County, VA) – The Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour, a tradition first organized by Westover Episcopal Church in Charles City County in 1954, is back this year and will feature seven properties, including four that have never been on the tour.

Charles City County was first settled in the 1600s as colonists expanded their footprint from Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The tour makes it possible for visitors to visit some of the most historic homes in America, all within just a few miles of each other. These homes are rarely open to the public, making the Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour one of the only opportunities to see them in all their glory.

This year’s tour will take place on September 28. Proceeds of the day will benefit the Church and its area outreach programs, including Meals on Wheels, other local feeding programs, and children’s outreach through the County’s Social Services agency.

The following properties are featured this year:

• Berkeley Plantation: Built circa 1726, this plantation is the site of the first Thanksgiving and was the ancestral home of U.S. Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison.
• Sherwood Forest Plantation: Home of President John Tyler, this plantation home was begun circa 1660 with additions through 1845.
• Greenway: This home was built circa 1776 by Judge John Tyler Sr., who later became Governor of Virginia. His son, President John Tyler Jr., was born at Greenway and later inherited the house. Greenway remains largely unchanged from its original colonial design.
• Open Air at The Glebe: The Glebe, built in 1745 by the Westover Parish, has been updated with every convenience while keeping its historic charm.
• Piney Grove: The original 1790 log portion of Piney Grove is the sole surviving structure of the original Southall Plantation.  The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and today includes a collection of historic structures saved from demolition by the Gordineer family.
• Kimages: This unique home was built in 1963 on seven acres overlooking a bluff of the James River and surrounded by the Berkeley woods. The grounds include a large, meandering garden.
• Westover Episcopal Church: 411 years old and going strong, this church is home to one of the most historic parishes in the nation.

High resolution photos of several of these properties are available upon request.  

Tickets are $50 when purchased before September 15 and $60 when purchased after that date. Box lunches are also available for pre-purchase (including a vegetarian option) for $18 each.  Tickets and meals can be purchased online by clicking here.  Note that tour sites are not handicapped accessible due to their age and historical status. The tour begins at 6401 John Tyler Memorial Hwy in Charles City, Virginia.  For more information, please call (804) 829-2488.

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Historic House Tour Returns With New Homes for 2023 25 Jul 2023 6:21 AM (2 years ago)

Mount Stirling

(Charles City County, VA) – The Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour, a tradition first organized by Westover Church in Charles City County in 1954, is back this year and will feature several new homes that have never been featured on the tour.

Charles City County was first settled in the 1600s as colonists expanded their footprint from Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The tour makes it possible for visitors to visit some of the most historic homes in America, all within just a few miles of each other. These homes are rarely open to the public, making the Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour one of the only opportunities to see them in all their glory.

This year’s tour will take place on September 30. Proceeds of the day will benefit the Church and its area outreach programs, including Meals on Wheels, other local feeding programs, and children’s outreach through the County’s Social Services agency.

The following properties are featured this year:

• Sherwood Forest Plantation: Home of President John Tyler, this plantation home was begun circa 1660 with additions through 1845.
• Shirley Plantation: Virginia’s oldest plantation, this property was settled in 1613, only six years after Jamestown was founded. It’s the oldest family-owned business operating in North America.
• Nance-Major House: Built in 1869, this property has been at the geographic and political core of Charles City County for 150 years. The Nance-Major Store operated from 1874 until 1963 and was an important gathering place for citizens coming to the courthouse.
• Mount Stirling: An exceptional example of high-style Greek Revival architecture, the plantation house was erected in 1851 and relatively unaltered since then.
• Riverview: This 1850 Greek Revival clapboard house sits on property originally used by colonists dating back to 1637. The house sits on a high bank of the James River, overlooking Presquile National Wildlife Refuge and surrounded by 403 acres of fields and woods.
• The Old Courthouse: Until 2005, this building was the third oldest courthouse in America that was still in use for judicial purposes. Originally built in 1730, the courthouse has recently been historically renovated and is now used for ceremonial purposes.
• Westover Episcopal Church: 410 years old and going strong, this church is home to one of the most historic parishes in the nation.

High resolution photos of each property are available upon request. More in-depth information about each property is available here.

Tickets are $45 when purchased before September 1, $45 when purchased after September 1, $50 when purchased up to September 29, and $55 on the day of the event. Box lunches are also available for pre-purchase (including a vegetarian option) for $18 each. Tickets and meals can be purchased online by clicking here. Note that tour sites are not handicapped accessible due to their age and historical status. For more information, please call (757) 561-6430.

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Premier Historic House Tour Returns After Two-Year Absence 21 Jul 2022 6:41 AM (3 years ago)

(Charles City County, VA) – The Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour, a tradition that began nearly seven decades ago, is back after a two-year absence. The tour, first held is 1954, was cancelled for the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers are excited to bring it back for 2022.

Westover Plantation

The Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour is organized by Westover Episcopal Church in Charles City County, making it possible for visitors to visit some of the most historic homes in America, all within just a few miles of each other. This year’s tour adds several new homes and brings back several favorites from previous years.

Charles City County was first settled in the 1600s as colonists expanded their footprint from Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. This year’s tour, held on September 24, will include several homes that are only open to the public on this one day out of the year. Proceeds of the day will benefit the Church and its area outreach programs, including Meals on Wheels, other local feeding programs, and children’s outreach through the County’s Social Services agency.

The following properties are featured this year:

• Berkeley Plantation: Built circa 1726, this plantation was the site of the first Thanksgiving and was the ancestral home of U.S. Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison.
• Inn at Eagles’ Watch: Surrounded by 5,000 acres of protected state game lands, Eagles’ Watch is one of Virginia’s few surviving 17th century brick dwellings. Listed on both the State and National Historic Registries, the original structure dates to approximately 1685.
• River Edge: This 250-year-old colonial plantation is in the middle of a multi-year renovation, with a restoration goal that will take years to realize. Since being built in 1790, the home has been used for a variety of purposes, including Civil War headquarters and a private school.
• Cary Hill: This charming 18th century house sits in a pastoral country setting, and has been lovingly maintained and decorated with period antiques that reflect its successive owners’ tastes and affinity for history and art.
• Kittiewan: The 700+ acres that today make up this property have been farmed almost continuously for over four hundred years. Built in 1728, this property was donated to the Archaeological Society of Virginia and now serves as its headquarters.
• Westover Plantation: Built circa 1730, Westover Plantation is considered one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in America.
• Westover Episcopal Church: More than 400 years old and going strong, this church is home to one of the most historic parishes in the nation.

High resolution photos of each property are available upon request. More in-depth information about each property is available here. A high-resolution video of Westover Plantation is available here.

Tickets are $40 when purchased before September 1, $45 when purchased after September 1, and $50 on the day of the event. Tickets are valid for one day of admission at all sites on the 2022 Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour. Box lunches are also available for pre-purchase (including a vegetarian option) for $15 each. Tickets and meals can be purchased online by clicking here. Note that tour sites are not handicapped accessible due to their age and historical status. For more information, please call (757) 561-6430.

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Homefix Partners to Give Elizabeth City, NC Resident a New Roof 7 Jul 2021 8:57 AM (4 years ago)

(Elizabeth City, North Carolina) — Homefix Custom Remodeling, a home improvement company with six locations across the southeastern U.S., is once again partnering with Habitat for Humanity and others to ensure a family in need has a safe home.

For this latest project, Homefix provided roofing materials and professional installation from its Norfolk, Virginia location at no cost for a home in Pasquotank County, North Carolina. The newly constructed home is located on 5th Street in Elizabeth City.

“We are so pleased to have this chance to work in partnership with Habitat to give back to our neighbors in North Carolina,” said Adam Shampaine, CEO of Homefix Custom Remodeling. “We have a great sense of pride in knowing our work is part of a solution that creates affordable housing with families in our area.”

The installation and materials donations are part of a national partnership between roofing manufacturer GAF and Habitat for Humanity. The partnership matches roofing materials donations from GAF with installation services donated by GAF Master Elite® and Certified Contractors, such as Homefix, in communities across the United States.

This is just the latest installation Homefix Custom Remodeling has provided to benefit Habitat for Humanity. Homefix is one of more than four thousand GAF Master Elite® and Certified Contractors who are eligible to participate in the partnership. The installed roofs will carry GAF’s System Plus Limited Warranty.

The new home will be presented to the homeowner on July 10.

About Homefix Custom Remodeling
Headquartered in Laurel, Maryland, Homefix Custom Remodeling has six offices servicing residents of the Washington, D.C. area, Richmond and Norfolk in Virginia, Raleigh and Charlotte in North Carolina, and Tampa, Florida. Founded in 1990, Homefix provides a variety of services including roofing installation, window and door replacement, gutters, siding, bathroom and shower conversions, and insulation. For more information, please visit homefixcustomremodeling.com.

About GAF Materials Corporation
Now proudly celebrating its 125th year in the industry, GAF Materials Corporation has become the largest roofing manufacturer in North America, with sales of nearly $3 billion annually. The company’s products include a comprehensive portfolio of steep-slope and low-slope roofing systems, as well as composite decking, which are supported by an extensive national network of factory-certified contractors. Its success is driven by a commitment to provide property owners and specifiers with the best and safest choice in roofing and by helping supportive contractors and distributors to build their businesses and avoid hassles. For more information about GAF, visit www.gaf.com.

About Elizabeth City Habitat for Humanity
Elizabeth City Habitat for Humanity is part of a global, nonprofit housing organization operated on Christian principles that seeks to put God’s love into action by building homes, communities, and hope. Elizabeth City Habitat for Humanity is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally and worldwide through constructing, rehabilitating, and preserving homes; by advocating for fair and just housing policies; and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions. Habitat for Humanity was founded on the conviction that every man, woman, and child should have a simple, durable place to live in dignity and safety, and that decent shelter in decent communities should be a matter of conscience and action for all.

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Three Ways COVID-19 Has Changed PR Forever 21 May 2021 7:16 AM (4 years ago)

Here in the United States, we are starting to see a loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, as more and more people take advantage of one of the several vaccines available.  We can see a light at the end of the tunnel, but things will not just magically go back to normal.  Most businesses have been changed in one way or another during the past year, and many of those changes are permanent.

What does this mean for public relations?  Let’s take a look at a few ways the global pandemic has changed our industry…

Continued use of video call technology for news interviews
This is certainly not new technology.  It was in use before the world went into shutdown mode, but during the pandemic it became completely necessary for television news to use services like Zoom to interview guests.  This was, of course, because TV stations didn’t want to risk having additional people in the newsroom or on their sets.  Going forward, TV will go back to in-studio guests, but doing a high-quality Zoom call will be a well-tested option.  We may also see continued use of video calling technology to easily set up mini media tours.  Additionally, with consumers now very comfortable with the technology, it’s easy to set up virtual events even long after they’re a necessity.

Polarization of media sources
Which news outlet many people consume these days largely has to do with where they fall on the political spectrum.  This polarization was already happening before COVID-19, but it increased during the pandemic due to which reports on the virus that consumers chose to believe.  This is certain to continue, and to reach your full audience you may need to strategically determine which “brand” of news they’re most likely to consume.

Working from home
When I first began working in PR, I was a media relations specialist.  Back then, this meant making a lot of phone calls to the media to pitch our clients.  I recall even twenty years ago saying there was no real reason that I needed to come to an office to do that job.  Today, there’s even less of a reason.  Before the pandemic, home offices were already starting to become common, but the number of people working from home obviously exploded over the last year.  Public relations is one of those jobs that can easily be done anywhere there is a telephone and the internet.  Working from home is here to stay.

Talking Podcasts, COVID-19, and Online Education With Virginia’s Community Colleges 30 Apr 2021 10:46 AM (4 years ago)

Obviously we love the organizations we work with, and it’s great when one of them takes the time to talk publicly about our projects.  Virginia’s Community Colleges posted on its blog today an article that talks about a number of things, and quotes EndGame PR President Steve Mullen several times in the process.  The post is primarily about the community college response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also about Inside Virginia’s Community Colleges, a podcast series produced by EndGame PR.

Check out the article here

Listen to Inside Virginia’s Community Colleges podcast here

EndGame PR President Launches New Sports Podcast 19 Jan 2021 6:25 AM (4 years ago)

Big news for VCU basketball fans! There’s a new podcast in town.  I’ve partnered with host George Templeton, a former Richmond Times-Dispatch sports reporter, to launch Rams Rewind, an all new show that recaps all of the action from each game.  After each contest, George will break down what happened and give his opinions on how the team is playing.  The show is currently only available via Podbean, but soon will be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and elsewhere.  If you’re a fan of the Rams, be sure to give it a listen.

Here’s a link: Rams Rewind on Podbean

New Podcast Series Explores Programs at Virginia’s Community Colleges 28 Oct 2020 7:42 AM (4 years ago)

A new podcast series is launching this week, with a goal of exploring the wide variety of programs available through Virginia’s Community Colleges.  The series, hosted and produced by EndGame PR President Steve Mullen, is called Inside Virginia’s Community Colleges.  Season one dives into remote education, which is more commonplace due to the COVID-19 pandemic but has been available through community colleges in the commonwealth for many years.  During the six-episode season, listeners will learn why online education is a good idea, how it works, and how to make the most of it.  Each episode features two guests, including community college administrators, advisors, professors, and students.

To listen to Inside Virginia’s Community Colleges, visit this link or search for the program on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

To learn more about how your organization can take advantage of podcasting, and how EndGame PR can help, visit our Podcasts page.

Don’t Turn Your Podcast Into an Advertisement 29 Sep 2020 10:19 AM (5 years ago)

There are nearly as many different types of podcasts as there are people. Between the length of shows (anywhere from a few minutes to several hours) and the topics (you name it) there are a lot of ways to make your show stand out. But, in the end, there’s just one thing you need to know when developing your show: make it something someone wants to listen to.

In this post, I’m talking mostly to people producing a series to promote a company or product. With that type of podcast, it’s far too tempting to make the program a series of commercials. The fact that people have been trying to find ways to avoid commercials for many decades should tell you that is a topic that won’t lead to many listeners.

Instead of spending your entire show touting how good your product or organization is, instead think about what expertise you have that people could use. For instance, if you have a plumping supply company, instead of talking about your products directly you could give plumbing advice and occasionally reference the products you sell during an organic conversation. Advice programs are one of the best routes, in fact, because they provide something of value to the listener, and may even be found during Google searches for problems discussed on the show.  Another possible topic for this type of business include weird tales of plumbing disasters, which sounds freakishly interesting.

Speaking of advice podcasts, the debate comes up frequently about giving away tips for free rather than charging for that advice. I’ve talked about it in my own podcast, Startup BizCast, but I’ll say it again: if people have the time and ability to do the work, they will do it whether you give them advice or not. The value of providing some help for free is that they’ll learn that you are an expert in the subject and, if they ever need help, they’ll hopefully remember your name.

2020 Has Changed a Common Question 19 Jun 2020 7:51 AM (5 years ago)

For much of your life, you may have greeted friends and family with a hearty, “How are you?” or “How’s it going?”  Until not so long ago, it was really just another way of saying hello, and not many people took it as an opportunity to truly discuss how they were doing.  Those times have changed, because in the world we inhabit, it’s not a safe assumption that people are okay, particularly people you haven’t seen for a while.

This is just one example of how communications have changed in the days since COVID-19 and protests against racial injustice began.  Things are hitting us differently and emotions are raw.  People are sick and people are upset.  Many of them are not okay.  Plus, since many people are still working from home and may be for some time, we’ve lost face-to-face encounters that mean so much.

This may seem like one of a million things that have changed in our day-to-day lives, but when communicating with employees, co-workers, and business associates, it’s important.  Instead of opening your next video conference call by launching straight into whatever business you were meeting to discuss, try spending a few minutes to simply and honestly ask people if everything is alright in their lives.  If you’re a manager, it might also be a good policy to just randomly check in with your employees one-on-one, to find out how they’re actually doing.

Keeping up to date on communications is important because, as we’re seeing with many other facets of our lives, things are changing fast.

New Survey Results Show the Continued Growth of Podcasting 1 Jun 2020 12:29 PM (5 years ago)

As the global COVID-19 pandemic entered our consciousness earlier this year, a lot of things fell by the wayside.  One of those things that would normally provide a lot of talking points is the yearly Infinite Dial 2020 survey from Edison Research, which was released on March 19.  The survey provides a wealth of statistics about social media, Internet audio, voice assistant technology, and podcasting.

The podcasting stats that are found in the report show the increased growth of the medium with some startling facts.  Here are just a few:

• 75% of the US population is familiar with podcasting (70% in 2019 and 64% in 2018)
• For the first time, more than 100 million Americans listened to at least one podcast in the last month
• 28% listened to a podcast episode in a car in the last month

What’s also interesting is that women are gaining on men in terms of podcast listenership.  Last year, seven percent more men listened to podcasts monthly.  That gap is now down to three percent.

Since we’re all starting to think of things in terms of pre-pandemic and post-pandemic, what are the drastic changes in the world over the past six months going to mean to podcasting?  I think that since we as a society are becoming more and more comfortable with the medium, even more companies are going to catch on, as it’s one more way to interact remotely with their audience.  Universities in particular may use them in tandem with video to educate potential applicants, since for the time being in-person meetings are discouraged.

If you’re interested in hearing what EndGame PR can do to help your company launch into the world of podcasting, check out our samples.  You can also listen to a full series that’s in production for global tech giant Unisys, called Security in a Zero Trust World.

EndGame PR Producing New Podcast Series for Global Tech Firm Unisys 16 Apr 2020 7:35 AM (5 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) – Richmond, Virginia-based social media and public relations firm EndGame PR announced today that it’s working with global technology giant Unisys Corporation to produce an all new podcast series focused on cybersecurity.

The new series is called Security in a Zero Trust World, powered by Unisys. Several episodes have already been published, and the initial eight-episode run was extended in order to add a special edition about work-from-home cybersecurity during the COVID-19 quarantine. An additional 10 episodes are planned.

The podcast series is hosted by EndGame PR President Steve Mullen and features interviews with experts in the cybersecurity field.

“You hear about another hacking every day, as more of our personal data is compromised,” said Mullen. “Data theft is becoming epidemic, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Cybercriminals are targeting every facet of our world and can even threaten our lives. Unisys has decades of experience working with businesses and governments to improve security, so they’re the perfect source of information on this topic.”

Episodes are available on the Unisys Blogs, as well as at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcast services.

About EndGame PR
Founded in 2006 by veteran communicator Steve Mullen, EndGame Public Relations, LLC is a full-service firm specializing in social media management, content creation, media relations services and podcast production.

EndGame PR has produced podcasts since 2007 and has worked on a variety of projects, including series for FightSMA, Richmond Association of REALTORS, Virginia’s Community Colleges, and the Council for Exceptional Children.

For more information, please visit EndGamePR.com.

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How Did Earned Media Help Joe Biden and How Can it Help You? 5 Mar 2020 10:20 AM (5 years ago)

In the days between former Vice-President Joe Biden winning the South Carolina primary on February 29 and the Super Tuesday primaries on March 3, we saw an interesting demonstration of the power of earned media.  But, what is earned media and why should we care?

Let’s set the stage for what happened.  Joe Biden didn’t win any of the first three primaries, held in Iowa (we don’t really know who won that one, but it wasn’t Biden), New Hampshire, and Nevada.  For the entire campaign leading up to those first primaries, Biden was touted as the leader in the race, but then he floundered.  Donor money, which was never flowing terribly freely for Biden, dried up.  His campaign was essentially going broke.

That doesn’t sound good, does it?  Advertising and a good organization are the backbone of what we thought would win these primaries, and Biden didn’t have them.  For example, he didn’t have a single field office in Massachusetts or Texas, and hadn’t held campaign events in either of them.

Then … something happened.  That “something” was a Biden landslide win in the South Carolina primary, three days before Super Tuesday.  During those three days, you couldn’t turn on anything resembling a news program, news website, or even social media, without seeing something about Joe Biden.  What’s most important is that his campaign didn’t pay for any of that exposure, because it’s what we call earned media.

For Biden, the news stories about his surprise win in South Carolina took the place of all of those annoying political ads you see this time of year.  That coverage, coupled with a couple of opponents dropping out and endorsing him, was enough for him to turn the momentum from his first primary win into 10 wins on Super Tuesday.

So, why should you care about this?  If you have a business or a product that you want people to know about, you should care a lot.  For you, earned media is gained by a well-known PR tactic called media relations — working with the media to either convince them to write stories about your product or business, or getting that product or business mentioned in a larger news story.  While newspapers, TV, and websites aren’t necessarily going to be clamoring to write stories about you like they did about Joe Biden (bully for you if they are!) the impact of earned media through media relations can be massive for your branding and sales efforts.

Organizers Unveil Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour Properties for 2019 and Introduce a Visitor from the Past 31 Jul 2019 10:08 AM (6 years ago)

Richmond View

(Charles City County, VA) – For approximately 65 years, volunteers from Westover Episcopal Church in Charles City County have made it possible for visitors to tour some of the most historic homes in America, all within just a few miles of each other.  This year’s tour adds several new homes, and introduces a visitor from the past, who will be on hand to explain what life was like in 1621 when English colonists were still struggling to make their way in the New World.

The Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour, first held in 1954, invites visitors to Charles City County, which was first settled in the 1600s as colonists expanded their footprint from the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.  This year’s tour, held on September 28, will include homes that are only open to the public on this one day out of the year.  Proceeds from the tour generate funds for Westover Church’s Meals on Wheels program and several other area social services programs.

The following properties are featured this year:

• Berkeley Plantation: Built circa 1726, this plantation was the site of the first Thanksgiving and was the ancestral home of U.S. Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison.
• Sherwood Forest Plantation: Home of President John Tyler, this plantation home was begun circa 1660 with additions through 1845.
• Shirley Plantation: Virginia’s oldest plantation, this property was settled in 1613, only six years after Jamestown was founded. It’s the oldest family-owned business operating in North America.
• Nance-Major House: Built in 1869, this property has been at the geographic and political core of Charles City County for 150 years. The Nance-Major Store operated from 1874 until 1963 and was an important gathering place for citizens coming to the courthouse.
• Peace Hill Farm: A working farm and bed and breakfast, Peace Hill was given its name after a 1614 treaty was signed by the English settlers and the Chickahominy tribe. The farmhouse was constructed in the late 18^th
• Richmond View: Originally built in Chesterfield County circa 1790, the home was in an industrial corridor between Interstate 95 and the James River. It was in danger of complete ruin until the current owners had it moved by barge to Charles City County in 1998.
• River Lea: Sitting on a high bluff overlooking the James River and surrounded by about twenty acres of woods and beautifully landscaped lawn, this 5,400 square foot home built in 1972 recently saw a complete renovation.
• Westover Plantation: Built circa 1730, Westover Plantation is considered one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in America.
• Westover Episcopal Church: More than 400 years old and going strong, this church is home to one of the most historic parishes in the nation.

High resolution photos of each property are available upon request.  A high resolution video of Westover Plantation is available here.  A printable tour map is available here.

In addition to this year’s tour homes, Westover Church invites visitors to travel back in time to the year 1621, to visit with Marye Bucke, the Minister’s Wife. Marye has traveled here all the way from the 17th century to share stories of her life in the early years of Jamestown, Virginia. Mrs. Bucke is portrayed by Rebecca Suerdieck, who is an Educator at Historic Jamestown. For the last 20 years she has delighted in educating Visitors with her accurate and entertaining look at early American History. Visitors can ask her anything, so long as they remember the year is 1621.

Tickets are $40 in advance or $45 when purchased on the day of the event.  Tickets are valid for one day of admission at all sites on the 2019 Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour. Admission tickets do not include lunch. Pulled pork barbecue, hot dogs, and baked goods will be available at Westover Church. The tour sites are not handicapped accessible. Tickets can be purchased online by clicking here.  For more information, or to purchase tickets by phone, please call (757) 561-6430.

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Startup BizCast #106 – Rules for Social Media During a National Crisis 8 May 2019 9:54 AM (6 years ago)

People like to call social media the new town hall, and it truly is.  Whenever there’s a big news event, people hop onto sites like Facebook and Twitter to talk about it.  But, what should your business do with its social media presence during a national tragedy or massive news event?  In this episode of Startup BizCast, host Steve Mullen talks about just that, and gives a few rules to follow.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

Thanks to Ray Santelli from Trident Solutions Group for suggesting this episode topic!  If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Give Dad the Gift He Really Wants, a Trip to the A. Smith Bowman Distillery Father’s Day Festival 1 May 2019 5:44 AM (6 years ago)

(Fredericksburg, VA) — Father’s Day gifts can be a tough nut to crack, particularly if Dad doesn’t drop any hints about what he wants. A. Smith Bowman Distillery has the answer: a visit to its 8th Annual Father’s Day Festival and a chance to sample the world’s best bourbon during a full day of fun. Best of all, there’s no charge for admission!

Smith Bowman Distillery, Virginia’s oldest distillery, holds the event every year to honor the important dads in our lives. This year it will take place on June 15 from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Fredericksburg. It will feature live music, mouth-watering food, local products, and tastings of the Distillery’s spirits. Included in the tastings will be the John J. Bowman Virginia Straight Bourbon, named “World’s Best Bourbon” by Whiskey Magazine in 2017.

To add to the fun, A. Smith Bowman Distillery will for the third year partner with River Rock Outfitter to host the Deep Run Bourbon Barrel Regatta. Teams are invited to create watercraft from A. Smith Bowman Distillery bourbon barrels and race across Deep Run, which is located next to the Distillery. Awards will be given to the top teams. Proceeds from the Barrel Regatta benefit the American Canoe Association’s education and safety programs. For information about the Barrel Regatta, visit the Distillery’s event page or email Michelle Begin at mbegin@asmithbowman.com.

Food will be provided by 716 Slice, Will’s Place and Glory Dawgs. A cash bar sponsored by the Grapes & Grains Trail will be available with cocktails featuring A. Smith Bowman Distillery products, as well as local beer and wine.  Other local vendors will be on hand showing and selling items such as local honey, maple syrup, popcorn, salsa, woodwork, and cigars. A designated area will be available for cigar smoking. Music will be provided by Cabin Creek and Breaking Point Band.

“Visiting distilleries and other creators of craft alcoholic beverages is exploding in popularity,” said A. Smith Bowman Distillery’s Master Distiller Brian Prewitt. “This event gives dads the opportunity to try the premium spirits we create, but also have fun with their entire family.”

Complimentary tours of the historic Distillery will be held every half hour starting at 11 a.m. The last tour will depart at 4 p.m. Tastings will be held in the Distillery gift shop.

Smith Bowman Distillery is located at 1 Bowman Drive in Fredericksburg, Va. Parking for the event will be available at the corner of Main Street and Bourbon Drive in Bowman Center. Service animals are welcome in the festival areas.

About A. Smith Bowman

Smith Bowman’s distilling roots date back to the years before Prohibition when the Bowman family had a granary and dairy farm in Sunset Hills, Virginia. They used excess grain from the family estate to distill spirits. In 1934, after the Repeal of Prohibition, Abram Smith Bowman and his sons continued the family tradition and built a more modern distillery in Fairfax County, Virginia called Sunset Hills Farm. The Distillery was moved in 1988 and is now nestled in Spotsylvania County near the city of Fredericksburg, 60 miles away from the original location.

As a small and privately-owned company, A. Smith Bowman Distillery continues the time-honored traditions on which it was founded. Considered a micro-distillery by today’s standards, A. Smith Bowman Distillery produces an assortment of hand-crafted spirits distilled from only the finest natural ingredients and using the latest technology. This micro-distillery focuses on the production of premium spirits honoring the legacy of Virginia’s first settlers. Its various brands have won more than 100 awards in the past five years, including “World’s Best Bourbon” in 2016 for its Abraham Bowman Port Finished Bourbon and again in 2017 for its John J. Bowman Single Barrel at the World Whisky Awards. For more information on A. Smith Bowman Distillery, please visit asmithbowman.com.

What Not to Do in PR 12 Apr 2019 6:25 AM (6 years ago)

[Editor’s note: This blog post was turned into an episode of my podcast, Startup BizCast!  To listen, click the right-facing arrow above.] 

Public relations seems like a relatively simple job, but there are so many ways you can make a mess of things, it’s not even funny. In this post, I’ll run through the different areas of expertise of EndGame PR and give an example of what you should avoid. Consider this a “what not to do” post.

The first category is media relations, or working with the news media to get coverage of your business. This is one of the more traditional PR tasks that I do for clients.

The biggest mistake I see all the time is annoying the heck out of reporters while trying to get them to do a story. This seems broad, and it is. But, in the end, if you annoy a reporter, they’re not only going to avoid story now, but they’re not likely to do one in the future either.

A few examples of what not to do here is contacting the reporter too much about a story that it’s clear they don’t want to do. There’s a fine line here between being persistent and being a stalker. Yes, you can email the reporter. Yes, you can even call to follow up. But, if you’ve emailed and left a message, and you still don’t get a response … it’s likely they’re not interested.

Also, be sure to know what your target reporter writes about. Nothing annoys a reporter more than receiving pitches about stories that have nothing whatsoever to do with their beat.

Finally, be aware of what time it is when you call reporters. Late afternoon tends to be a busy time for print reporters, for instance, because they’re on deadline. For TV reporters, know when they have newscasts and call in between them … not right before them. The same goes for radio reporters.

Now, let’s move on to our next category … social media. The biggest no-no in this one for me is spelling and grammar. Nothing will turn some people off more than blatant errors in blog posts, articles, and social media postings. The reaction on Facebook and twitter could range from people ignoring you to them being outright hostile.

If your spelling isn’t so hot, make sure you run it through a spell check. If your grammar is questionable at times, check it and re-check it. And, if both are bad, make sure someone else reads your material before it’s visible to the world. Another idea, if your writing is questionable, is to hire someone to write for you.

Another area that is ripe for errors is crisis communications. This is where you can make giant mistakes, and the biggest one is to not follow the boy scout motto … be prepared.

No matter how big your business is, there’s a chance you could have a crisis that would draw the attention of the news media. What would you do if that happened? For a smaller business, preparation is easy. But, for each additional employee or contractor you have, it becomes harder.

The first step is to think about what could potentially go wrong. Maybe it’s a data breach where customer information becomes public. Maybe it’s a fire at a facility. Maybe it’s an employee who stole something particularly valuable. The possibilities are endless but can be narrowed down to a handful if you know your business well.

Once you have some ideas of what could happen, put together a plan. Who will talk to the media if they come calling? What will happen if that person is completely out of touch at that moment? Be sure to tell employees who answer the phone that they are *not* to speak for the company unless you have given them explicit permission. Finally, when you do talk to the media … never lie. If you don’t know the answer to a question, or if you need time to think about it, it’s perfectly okay to say you don’t know, but that you’ll get back to the reporter. It may feel awkward, but it’s better than saying something that will get you in more trouble down the road.

Really, there are a lot of ways to make mistakes in PR, but these are just a few of them. I’m not doing this episode to scare anyone, because I understand that not everyone can hire a professional to take care of it for them. But, it’s an area where you should absolutely use some caution.

Startup BizCast #105 – Finding Time to Do The Work 10 Apr 2019 11:17 AM (6 years ago)

Having too much work is a great problem to have, until it’s so much that you don’t have time to actually do the work.  In this episode of Startup BizCast, host Steve Mullen gives some advice on what to do when that “great problem to have” gets out of control.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

Thanks to Ray Santelli from Trident Solutions Group for suggesting this episode topic!  If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #104 – What Not to Do in PR 21 Mar 2019 10:33 AM (6 years ago)

As the owner of PR and social media firm, Startup BizCast host Steve Mullen knows where a lot of the landmines are hidden in that world, and how to avoid them.  In this episode, he talks about he biggest mistakes that can be made in several different areas of public relations.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Richmond Financial Advisor Publishes Book to Help Make Sense of Inheritance Chaos 12 Mar 2019 6:08 AM (6 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) – There is little else in life that is more painful than dealing with the illness or death of a loved one. Unfortunately, many times that experience is made worse because you must take over their financial responsibilities at the same time. It’s a responsibility that many people don’t think about when preparing for the future. A new book by a veteran Richmond financial advisor provides compassionate financial advice to help make sense of this heartbreaking time.

Inheriting Chaos with Compassion was written by Jennifer Luzzatto, founder of Henrico-based Summit Financial Partners. It was inspired by her personal experience and informed by her three decades in the financial services industry.

“When we’re drowning in big emotions, managing the financial aftermath becomes a part-time job we don’t want,” said Luzzatto. “If you are in this situation, you may feel there is a big mess in front of you right now, but it can be organized.”

The book, published by Lioncrest, covers the many, many things people need to know when taking over a love one’s finances or managing an inheritance. Those items include power of attorney, executor responsibilities, and all aspects of settling an estate. It also provides essential information about bank accounts, investments, and any professional services that might be required.

Inheriting Chaos with Compassion is being published on March 26. Paperback and e-book versions will be available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. E-book versions will also be available through Apple iBooks, Google Play, and Kobo.

About Jennifer Luzzatto
Jennifer Luzzatto is a Chartered Financial Analyst®, a Certified Financial Planner®, and a NAPFA registered financial advisor. She began her career in financial services thirty years ago as a fixed-income trader in a regional brokerage firm and went on to manage personal trust accounts, institutional portfolios, and a municipal bond mutual fund at a commercial bank. In 1999, she founded Summit Financial Partners, transitioning from banking to financial planning and investment advisory services. Jennifer holds a BA in Psychology and an MBA from the University of Richmond.

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Startup BizCast #103 – Working From Home 7 Mar 2019 10:08 AM (6 years ago)

Working from home is fantastic, but for many people it’s a serious struggle.  How do you get past the idea that there are other things you could do around the house OTHER than working?  In this episode, host Steve Mullen runs down some of the problems related to having a home office, and gives some tips to make you more productive.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

Thanks to Ray Santelli from Trident Solutions Group for suggesting this episode topic!  If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #102 – Giving Free Advice 20 Feb 2019 10:22 AM (6 years ago)

Have you ever gotten yourself in a long conversation with someone you thought could end up being a client, and they asked question after question about how you would handle certain situations?  Have you wondered whether you should really be giving out that information for free?  In this episode, host Steve Mullen talks about when it’s okay to give out free advice.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

Thanks to Ray Santelli from Trident Solutions Group for suggesting this episode topic!  If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #101 – Negotiating Against Yourself 6 Feb 2019 9:41 AM (6 years ago)

Setting your prices for potential business is a hard thing, because most of the time the potential client doesn’t tell you how much they’re willing to pay you.  So, how can you make sure you’re not under-charging, or asking for so much that you don’t get the work?  Host Steve Mullen has some tips.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #100 – Where People Get Their News 9 Jan 2019 10:12 AM (6 years ago)

If you want to speak to your audience through traditional media relations, advertising, or social media, you need to know where to find them.  In this episode of Startup BizCast, host Steve Mullen talks about a new survey on the subject that has some groundbreaking results.

If you’d like to read more about the survey, check out this link.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Social Media Overtakes Print Media: What This Means 8 Jan 2019 11:13 AM (6 years ago)

It was bound to happen. According to a new survey from Pew Research Center released just before the holidays, social media has for the first time surpassed print media as a go-to source of news and information.

The study asked Americans where they often get their news. Here’s what they said:

• 49% – Television
• 33% – News website
• 26% – Radio
• 20% – Social media
• 16% – Print news

Social media had a two-percent lead over print in 2017, but that was within the margin of error, making it a statistical tie.

So, does this mean businesses should stop trying to get coverage in print media?

No … no it doesn’t.

The thing that I remind people is that the news they’re reading on Facebook, Twitter and the like should come from legitimate news sources if it’s to be trusted. Those legitimate news sources include print media like newspapers and magazines, as they all link their articles on social media sites. While those links go to news websites (which is a different category listed above) the primary reason for most newspapers and magazines to exist is to print on paper.

So, even though print news is slowly dying, it’s not being killed by social media. The fact that social media exists is helping to keep it relevant.

Startup BizCast #99 – Advice for Sole Proprietors 28 Nov 2018 10:30 AM (6 years ago)

It’s tough being the owner of a micro business or sole proprietorship.  In many cases, you’re the only one doing the work and you don’t have anyone to consult or bounce ideas off of.  In this episode, EndGame PR President Steve Mullen gives advice geared directly toward this type of business.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #98 – Are You Being Social? 7 Nov 2018 7:00 AM (6 years ago)

Your business is probably on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  You may even be on Instagram.  But, are you actually communicating, or are you just making announcements?  In this episode, EndGame PR President Steve Mullen gives some advice to ensure your social media efforts truly are social.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #97 – Finding Time for Social Media 24 Oct 2018 7:23 AM (7 years ago)

It’s completely understandable that it’s hard to find time for social media when you’re a small business owner, but not doing it is a mistake.  In this episode, host Steve Mullen gives some advice to streamline your business social media processes and make sure you keep up to date.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #96 – Who Are Your Friends on Social Media? 10 Oct 2018 6:48 AM (7 years ago)

This episode is all about who your friends are on social media, or, more specifically, who your friends should be.  Most business owners and social media managers maintain personal accounts that they don’t want to (and probably shouldn’t) mix with their business accounts.  While they may have figured out who they should connect with in their personal life, their business life needs to be different.  How do you keep the two things separate?  How do you decide who should be a connection? Host Steve Mullen runs through all of the major social media outlets, and gives some advice on each.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #95 – How Not to Spread Fake News 26 Sep 2018 10:13 AM (7 years ago)

Our country has a fake news problem.  A lot of people use the term to describe news stories they simply disagree with, but truly the spread of incorrect news is a growing issue.  As a social media manager or business owner, how do you avoid making it worse?  Host Steve Mullen talks about fake news in this episode, and gives advice on how to make sure what you’re posting is actually true news.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #94 – Social Media Customer Service 10 Sep 2018 8:33 AM (7 years ago)

Customer service isn’t something that’s just done face-to-face or even over the phone anymore.  Customers have more of an upper hand now, because they can broadcast their complaints to the world via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  How do you, as a business owner or manager, deal with it?  In episode 94 of Startup BizCast, host Steve Mullen gives you several examples of situations, and what you should do to rectify them.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #93 – Communication Across the Generations 13 Aug 2018 8:44 AM (7 years ago)

In this episode, I mix it up a little and tackle a topic that’s more about internal communications than PR or social media.  When you have a business that employs people who may be from FOUR different generations, how do you deal with all of their different ways of communicating?  In this episode, host Steve Mullen looks at the differences in the generations, and gives tips on how to make sure they all get the message.

Thanks to Rob Bruton, whose Facebook post inspired this episode.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #92 – The Basics of Crisis Communication 30 Jul 2018 10:52 AM (7 years ago)

No matter what kind of business you have, there’s a chance that something will happen that will lead to the media reaching out to find you for a story you didn’t really want to be a part of.  How you handle that is called crisis communications, and in this episode, host Steve Mullen runs through some basics to help make sure you don’t inadvertently make the situation worse.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Startup BizCast #91 – Is Media Relations Still Worth the Time? 16 Jul 2018 5:44 AM (7 years ago)

It’s no secret that the traditional news media isn’t nearly as powerful or even healthy as it was just a decade or two ago.  Most people get the at least a portion of their news from social media these days.  So, is it really still worth the time to try to get coverage about your business in newspapers, and on TV and radio?  Is media relations still worth the time?  In this episode, host Steve Mullen gives his opinion and backs it up with several reasons.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Does Media Relations Even Matter Anymore? 12 Jul 2018 7:27 AM (7 years ago)

[Editor’s note: This blog post was turned into an episode of my podcast, Startup BizCast!  To listen, click the right-facing arrow above.]

It shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that newspapers, TV and radio news departments are nowhere near as influential or financially healthy as they were before social media came along.  You may know someone who reads the newspaper every day or organizes their evenings around watching the local news, but that person is likely an exception.

A survey from 2017 showed that more than two-thirds of people get at least some of their news from social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.  So, if you’re a business owner or a PR practitioner, is it worth it to focus your efforts on getting coverage in your local media?

I think it’s definitely still worth including media relations as part of your marketing mix, for several reasons.

First, when people get their news from social media, many of them are actually reading links from news outlets that have been posted there.  So, really, the news media is now in part a content creator.  If a story about your business is the content, then more people could end up seeing it because of the story being shared on social media.

Second, if you have a local business, the hyper-local news outlets may be the only ones providing coverage of local businesses like yours.  Most communities have at least a weekly paper, and with many of these publications it’s much easier to get a story printed about a local business than it would be in a larger daily newspaper.  While the readership of these community newspapers is small, nearly all of the people reading the paper are in the area where your business operates.  That’s valuable.

Finally, a third party endorsement is still worth something.  One thing that has always made a positive story in the news media valuable is that the reporter is essentially saying that they feel your business is worth reporting about.  While public opinion of the news media is rather low right now, you still want people saying things like that about your business.

Obviously the media, particularly newspapers, will never get back to the kind of influence they had 50 to 75 years ago, when most cities had at least one morning and one evening newspaper, and nearly everyone read them.  But, despite today’s screams of “fake news,” the news media, particularly the local news media, retains enough usefulness that ignoring them altogether in your marketing would be a big mistake.

Startup BizCast #90 – The Best Social Media Outlet for Your Business 2 Jul 2018 6:02 AM (7 years ago)

I frequently have discussions with clients about which social media outlets they should be using to promote their organizations.  Most small to medium-sized businesses don’t have the time to focus on all of them, so how do you choose?  In this episode, host Steve Mullen will give details about each of the largest social media sites and discuss which businesses would benefit most from having a presence there.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Organizers Unveil 2018 Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour Properties 25 Jun 2018 5:28 AM (7 years ago)

Historic Westover Episcopal Church

(Charles City, Virginia) – An expert once said that school children in the Old Dominion have it easy, because the history of Virginia is basically the history of the country.  Much of that history is found in the area between Richmond and Norfolk — in particular, in Charles City County.  Organizers from Westover Church, a historic building in its own right, are once again highlighting many of the most important properties in this area that is truly the birthplace of our nation, during the 2018 Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour.

Each year, some of America’s most historic homes open their doors for this tour, and some are only open to the public on that one day.  The tour is a fundraiser that Westover Church started circa 1954, and this year is being held on September 29.

The following properties are featured on this year’s tour:

• Berkeley Plantation: Built circa 1726, this plantation was the site of the first Thanksgiving and was the ancestral home of U.S. Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison.
• Sherwood Forest Plantation: Home of President John Tyler, this plantation home was begun circa 1660 with additions through 1845.
• Shirley Plantation: Virginia’s oldest plantation, this property was settled in 1613, only six years after Jamestown was founded.  It’s the oldest family-owned business operating in North America.
• Dogham: The land comprising Dogham was granted by the Crown to Joseph Royall in August 1637. The property is notable not only for its antiquity but also for its continuous ownership and occupation by descendants of the same family.
• BarnStone: This unusual house was originally a post-and-beam dairy barn found in disrepair in Bedford, PA. A West Virginia barn saver helped in the complex process of dismantling and reconstructing the barn on the present 13-acre site overlooking the James River.
• River Pointe: A three-level Mediterranean-style house situated on a prominent bluff overlooking the James, River Pointe is the weekend home of former Governor of Virginia L. Douglas Wilder.
• Westover Plantation: Built circa 1730, Westover Plantation is considered one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in America.
• Westover Episcopal Church: More than 400 years old and going strong, this church is home to one of the most historic parishes in the nation.

High resolution photos of each property are available upon request.  A high resolution video of Westover Plantation is available here.  A printable tour map is available here.

Details and Tickets:
2018 Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour is from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.  Tickets are $40 in advance and $45 the day of the event.  A limited number of tickets are available.  The deadline for online advance ticket sales is 6 p.m. on September 28.  Tour tickets may be purchased in advance at http://westoverepiscopalchurch.org  or they can also be purchased by calling 757-561-6430.

Day-of-the-event tickets may be purchased in person on September 29 at Sherwood Forest Plantation, River Pointe, Westover Episcopal Church, Westover Plantation and BarnStone.

On the day of the event, luncheon food, including Brunswick stew, pulled pork barbecue, hamburgers and hot dogs, will be available at the church. As a convenience, box lunches can be ordered in advance and picked up at the church the day of the event.

The house tour generates funds for Westover Church’s Meals on Wheels program and several other area social services programs.

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Startup BizCast #89 – Tips to Beat Social Media Writer’s Block 18 Jun 2018 9:18 AM (7 years ago)

A social media content strategy is a great idea for organizations of all sizes, but at some point or another, it’s likely you’ll run out of ideas of what to write about.  What do you do then?  Panic?  Hopefully not.  In this episode of Startup BizCast, host Steve Mullen gives some tips to avoid social media writer’s block.

To ensure you don’t miss a single episode of Startup BizCast, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  Also, be sure to like the Startup BizCast Facebook Page to receive updates and inside information.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

What’s the Best Social Media Outlet for Your Business? 13 Jun 2018 7:47 AM (7 years ago)

[Editor’s note: This blog post was turned into an episode of my podcast, Startup BizCast!  To listen, click the right-facing arrow above.]

One of the bigger debates I hear among clients is what social media outlet should be their primary focus.  Not everyone has the time or the ability to focus on all of them, and truly not all social media sites are right for every business.  But, how do you decide?  Here’s a rundown of the major options, and which ones work for different types of organizations:

Facebook: With more than two billion registered users, Facebook is obviously the 800-pound gorilla on this list.  I tell clients that if there is one social media site that no one should ignore, this is it.  Facebook has taken some hits to its reputation lately, but it’s still popular enough that you can be assured that your audience is active there.

Instagram: While Instagram is owned by Facebook, it’s obviously very different.  Centered on images, it can be a bit of a challenge for some organizations where there isn’t a lot to photograph.  It also tends to lean younger than Facebook.  If your audience tends to skew toward 30-somethings and younger, you should be on Instagram.

Twitter: If there’s a site other than Facebook that’s hard to ignore, it’s Twitter.  The site has gone through a number of changes recently, but still provides a healthy outlet for discussion.  Businesses that focus on policy or politics absolutely need to be here.  Businesses should also monitor discussions about their industry, and get involved.

LinkedIn: If there’s one site that many social media managers seem to want to ignore, it’s LinkedIn.  Many say they just don’t know what to do with it.  However, more organizations can take advantage of LinkedIn than you might think.  While it’s clearly most useful for B2B’s, posting anything you might have that’s business-related on LinkedIn, such as hiring announcements, real estate transactions, and new products, is a good idea.  Also, take time to investigate LinkedIn Groups, to see if there’s an active one about your industry.

Pinterest: Clearly, Pinterest is the most niche of the sites that I’m discussing in this list.  Originally (and still) focusing heavily on crafts, decorating, and fashion, Pinterest can be useful for any business that has interesting product images to share.  Interestingly, many social media managers report that they get more website traffic from Pinterest than many other social media outlets.

There are, of course, other outlets you can look at, but for most businesses these are the main ones to consider.  In the end, the best bet is to look at what you do and who you are, then rank the social media sites in importance to you.  The last step is to decide what you have time to do, because if you don’t put the time into keeping up your social media presence, it’s something that’s not worth doing.

Startup BizCast #88 – Is it Time to Quit Facebook? 4 Jun 2018 6:00 AM (7 years ago)

While Facebook has been a blessing for businesses trying to build an audience, over the past few years we’ve seen those blessings limited as the social media giant makes it more and more obvious that it wants you to pay for the right to access your audience.  In this episode of Startup BizCast, we examine whether it’s really worth the trouble and expense, or whether it’s time for businesses to quit.

This is the 88th episode, but the second since I relaunched the series, and I’m really enjoying it! To ensure you don’t miss a single episode, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  We expect to be on additional directories soon!You can also use the Startup Bizcast RSS feed in your feed reader or podcatcher, or visit the Startup BizCast landing page at EndGame PR.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

Banking Veteran Enters Third Year of Improving Financial Institutions’ Bottom Lines 21 May 2018 9:34 AM (7 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) – As the rate of bank consolidations refuse to slow, financial institutions need to ensure they have the right skill sets on hand, either on staff or via outside expertise.  As a result, a 25-year veteran of the banking industry finds himself in high demand as he finishes his second year working with Richmond, Virginia-based Strategic Risk Associates (SRA.)

Ray Santelli, Managing Director of Credit Advisory Services for SRA, says he has provided a wide variety of solutions to financial institutions over the past year, particularly by servicing problem asset accounts on a fractional basis.  He has leveraged his quarter-century of experience in community banking, commercial lending, and special assets to provide cost effective problem asset solutions to his client banks.

“The primary result of the Great Recession, persistently low interest rates and enhanced banking regulations has been consolidation, and we’re continuing to experience this in 2018,” said Santelli.  “When banks consolidate, there is typically a disturbance in staffing, and that leaves gaps in critical functions such as asset resolution.”

An overview of the services that Santelli has provided for clients in the past year includes:

• Problem loan account servicing
• Implementation of Special Assets Best Practices
• Special Assets Committee management

The pace of consolidation in banking isn’t likely to change and will continue to stress banks’ human resources, especially special asset management staffing.  To discuss your bank’s asset resolution needs, please call Ray Santelli at (804) 347-2136.

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Startup BizCast #87 – Re-launch and Social Media Manager Advice 21 May 2018 5:41 AM (7 years ago)

It’s been a long wait for Episode 87 of Startup BizCast, but that wait is over.  After nine years, I’m publishing all new episodes, starting today.  Startup BizCast began in 2007, and offers advice for owners of small and medium-sized businesses.

This episode reintroduces the show and talks about the new direction I’m taking, and then offers some advice on how to know if you need to hire a social media manager.  You can listen by clicking the right-facing arrow at the bottom of this post.

I’m still working out my publishing schedule going forward, but expect to see another episode in about two weeks.  To ensure you don’t miss a single episode, subscribe via iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher.  We expect to be on additional directories soon!You can also use the Startup Bizcast RSS feed in your feed reader or podcatcher, or visit the Startup BizCast landing page at EndGame PR.

If you have any suggestions for future episodes, or a comment or a question, please use our contact form.

Startup BizCast’s theme music is “Entranced” by Blake Emrys.

EndGame PR Re-launches Dormant Small Business Advice Podcast 17 May 2018 10:14 AM (7 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) — Social media PR firm EndGame PR today announced that it is re-launching a business advice podcast that has been dormant for nearly nine years.

From 2007 to 2009, EndGame PR President Steve Mullen produced 86 episodes of Startup BizCast, a podcast which provided a wealth of information and advice for small business owners and became one of the top business podcasts on iTunes.

Previously, Startup BizCast featured interviews with experts on various topics related to small business.  Episodes generally lasted less than 15 minutes, with the suggestion that businessmen and women listen to them during a coffee break.

The “new” Startup BizCast will still help small business owners, but will be slightly different.

“New episodes will feature advice from EndGame PR on subjects like social media, public relations, and writing,” said Mullen.  “Episodes will be about two to three minutes long, because while most people don’t take coffee breaks anymore, I figure everyone has time for two or three minutes to learn something.”

EndGame PR also announced that it has eliminated the dedicated website for Startup BizCast.  New episodes as well as older shows can be found at https://endgamepr.com/startupbizcast/.  The show is also available on iTunes, Google Play, and elsewhere.

The newest episode Startup BizCast, which will officially be called episode 87, will premier next week.

About EndGame PR
Founded near Richmond, Virginia in 2006 by veteran communicator Steve Mullen, EndGame PR is a full service firm specializing in social media management, content creation, website development, media relations services, and podcast production. For more information, please visit EndGamePR.com.

What To Do About Social Media Writer’s Block 8 May 2018 11:16 AM (7 years ago)

One challenging thing about content creation for social media is that you need to have a steady stream of ideas.  Whether you post once per week or once per day, you need to always be thinking about what’s coming up next.

But, what do you do when no ideas come to you, other than writing an article about how to overcome social media writer’s block?  Here are a few ideas:

Spend some time reading: Reading about your industry is one of the best ways to come up with ideas on what to write.  If you’re well-versed in the business you’re writing about, you will inevitably have an opinion about something you’ve read, which can lead to a great article or blog post.  You can also write a counterpoint article about something that someone else has written.

Get a little off topic: Not every bit of content you write needs to be exactly on topic.  Sometimes writing something that’s loosely relevant can be a great way to broaden your topic base.

Get creative: Check out the calendars that have odd commemorations, such as “friends day” or “national pizza day.”  There may be something interesting coming up that could spark an idea.

The most important thing about a social media content strategy is to plan ahead.  Have ideas for at least the next several weeks, so if writer’s block hits, it won’t put a stop to your content posting right away.

[Editor’s note: This blog post was turned into an episode of my podcast, Startup BizCast!  To listen, click the right-facing arrow below.]

Richmond Financial Firm Re-launches with New Name and New Brand 10 Apr 2018 6:49 AM (7 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) – One of Richmond’s only women-owned financial advisory firms is announcing some big changes this spring.  Summit Financial Planning is changing its name to Summit Financial Partners.  And, along with the new name comes a new look.

“While the name change may be subtle, Summit Financial Partners better depicts who we are, the services we provide, and the special partnership we have with our clients,” said Jennifer Luzzatto, the firm’s president.  “The services we offer go far beyond just planning.”

Along with the name change comes a number of other changes.  The firm’s new website went “live” recently, featuring its new logo and email addresses.

Another thing that sets Summit Financial Partners apart from other firms in the Richmond area is its fee-only compensation model. This straightforward and transparent fee structure ensures that clients understand what fees are being drawn from an investment or portfolio. Also, as fiduciary advisors, Summit Financial Partners never pushes investments and only provides financial advice that is in the client’s best interest.

About Summit Financial Partners
Based in Glen Allen, Virginia, Summit Financial Partners has been helping individuals and families reach their financial goals since 1999.  For more information, please visit the company’s new website, at SummitFinancialPartnersRVA.com.

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Do Businesses Still Need Facebook? 22 Mar 2018 9:32 AM (7 years ago)

[Editor’s note: This blog post was turned into an episode of my podcast, Startup BizCast!  To listen, click the right-facing arrow above.]

Those who have been managing a Facebook page for an organization have seen their efforts become less and less fruitful over the last few years, as the social media outlet makes it painfully clear that unless you pay, you won’t get much from them.

For years, Facebook was a gravy train for businesses and other organizations.  Millions and millions (now billions) of people were on there, just looking for content.  When they “liked” a page, they would regularly see the content that page posted.

Slowly but surely, however, those days ended.

It started when Facebook went public.  They wouldn’t admit it, but they needed to make more money, and allowing businesses to freely promote themselves without paying wasn’t going to cut it anymore.  So, over time, they made it so that people who liked business pages saw fewer and fewer of the posts from those pages showing up in their feed.  It’s now to the point where without paying, only a tenth of a percent of a page’s fans are likely to see a post.

So … is it time for businesses to give up on Facebook?

I don’t think so.  But, they have to change the way they think.

It’s time to start thinking about Facebook as an international media outlet, where the cost of entry via advertising is relatively cheap.  You still have to create well-crafted and interesting content, but that’s only half of the equation now.  You have to pay for eyeballs too.  Fortunately, you can see a big difference in reach by paying as little as five dollars.

This also means that social media managers, many of whom started out life as PR professionals, need to learn more about advertising, or hire someone who does.

CrossKeys Vineyards to be Included in the Governor’s Cup Case 28 Feb 2018 9:53 AM (7 years ago)

(Mt. Crawford, Virginia) – One of the Shenandoah Valley’s premier vineyards is being honored as one of the best in all of Virginia.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced last night that the 2015 vintage of the Ali d’Oro dessert wine, produced by CrossKeys Vineyards, will be included in the 2018 Governor’s Cup Case®, which means it’s one of the best that was judged during the Governor’s Cup® competition.

CrossKeys learned earlier this month that the Ali d’Oro had won a Governor’s Cup Gold Medal, and was one of only four dessert wines to receive that distinction this year.  The Ali d’Oro is the one of two dessert wine to be included in the Governor’s Cup Case.  The case showcases the state’s top wines.

“This is an amazing honor,” said Babak Bakhtiar, Director of Marketing for CrossKeys Vineyards.  “It is proof that our hard work is paying off.  We’d like to thank Governor Northam and all of the judges.”

The competition for the Governor’s Cup is fierce, with 442 entries this year.  A total of 99 wines received the Gold Medal.  The top 12 red and white wines are included in the Governor’s Cup Case.

In addition to the gold medal won by Crosskeys’ Ali d’Oro, the vineyard was honored this year to receive silver medals for the 2016 vintages of its Petit Verdot, Touriga, Joy White, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc.  The 2015 CrossKeys Vineyards Petit Verdot received a bronze medal.

CrossKeys Vineyards, located near Weyers Cave, will turn 10 years old later this year.  It was founded by the Bakhtiar family on what they call a “forgotten” piece of land.  The inspiration for the business is the former Cross Keys Tavern, which was near the vineyard property and served as a center of community life in the early to mid-19th century.

CrossKeys Vineyards is different from many Virginia wineries in that its vintages are 100% estate grown.  All grapes used to produce the wine are grown on CrossKeys property.

For more information on CrossKeys Vineyards, please visit crosskeysvineyards.com.

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We Don’t Need 280 Characters 9 Nov 2017 10:49 AM (7 years ago)

It’s official.  Twitter has jumped the shark.  Well, maybe it’s not that extreme, but I fear that this latest decision won’t end well for the service that’s already struggling.

Twitter officials announced this week that they’ve decided once and for all to double the number of characters allowed in a tweet, from 140 to 280.  They’ve been testing the change for a couple of months.

Twitter was initially limited to 140 words because at the beginning of the service people tweeted via text, which at the time had a 140-character limit.  There’s a historical reason for the limit, even though nearly everyone who uses the site does so on a smartphone or computer now.

Last year, Twitter made other changes to ease the character count restrictions, but those made sense.  They merely reduced the character “penalty” for a link.

The unique thing about Twitter and its 140-word restriction was that you were limited from getting too wordy.  You can make a post nearly as long as you want on Facebook or Instagram, but on Twitter you simply had to be brief.  You had to think about what you really needed to say.  When you take away something that makes a service unique, it tends to fade into the woodwork.

For an example of what can happen when a social media outlet strays too far from its roots, we don’t have to look far.  Remember Foursquare and its competition to become “mayor” of a location?  I don’t know the stats, but I can guarantee that it was a lot more popular before wholesale changes were made to the service.

When to Pay Someone to Help With Your Business’ Social Media 25 Oct 2017 10:41 AM (8 years ago)

Social media started out easy for business owners.  Back in the day, you’d open a Facebook account with the name of your business, and then go in search of “friends”.  Then, things got complicated.  First, they said businesses couldn’t have individual accounts, then they created groups, then they created pages, then they made it harder and harder for businesses to gain an audience without paying for advertising.  And, that’s just Facebook!  Add in Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and others, and it gets rather confusing.

If you’re a business owner, how do you know if it’s time to hire a social media manager (either as a full time worker or on a contract basis) to help you?

If you don’t have the time to do it right.  This is a pretty obvious one.  If you don’t have the time to do the job right, that must mean your business is doing pretty well.  It can be time-consuming to come up with content to share online, like articles, photos, videos, or even simple social media posts.  When you add in managing comments and questions, it can get to be too much if you’re trying to run a business at the same time.

If you don’t understand social media for businesses.  Most everyone uses at least one social media outlet these days, but promoting your business on social media is different than liking and commenting on your sister-in-law’s baby pictures.  If you’re not sure how it’s different, it’s best to find someone who does.  It’s far too easy these days to get into trouble by offending the wrong people online.

If you’re not a good writer.  You don’t have to be Tolstoy to create a good social media post, but you don’t want it to be riddled with grammatical and spelling errors either.  People aren’t likely to want to come back to read more of your posts if they have trouble deciphering them.

If what you’re doing isn’t working.  Do you find that when you post something on Facebook, no one likes it, shares it, or comments?  Do you not get any retweets on Twitter or likes on Instagram?  Everyone has a post or two that don’t do as well as expected, but if that’s the case with nearly everything you’re posting, it’s time to think about getting some help.

If you’ve been burned before.  A lot of business owners push their social media management onto the nearest young employee.  They’re young … they must know about this stuff, right?  Not necessarily.  Many, many companies have ended up looking bad because they went this route.  I’ll go back to an earlier point, where I said that using social media is not the same as knowing how to manage a social media presence for a business.

[Editor’s note: This blog post was turned into an episode of my podcast, Startup BizCast!  To listen, click the right-facing arrow below. If you want to talk with EndGame PR about helping with your social media presence, all you have to do is contact us!]

New Richmond Real Estate Team Focuses on Service Before, During and After the Sale 6 Sep 2017 5:59 AM (8 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) – Founded on the belief that the relationship continues even after all the papers are signed, a new real estate team has formed in Richmond that vows to provide tailored services and expertise before, during, and after closing.

Richmond REALTORS© John McGurn, Elliott Gravitt, Dawson Boyer and Jenny Brock, launched Providence Hill this month.  They’ll be working with the brokerage of Shaheen, Ruth, Martin & Fonville Real Estate.  Collectively, the members of Providence Hill have sold more than 915 homes, totaling more than $257 million in volume.

“With decades of real estate experience in the Richmond market, we’re dedicated to providing individuals, families and investors with unparalleled service and expertise,” said Elliott Gravitt.  “What makes us different is we have a proven process for preparing homes and a strategic marketing plan that we customize for each seller’s home. Our services don’t stop at the closing table; we provide assistance, advice, and host special client events before, during, and after the sale.”

Examples of Providence Hill’s unique services include home buyer and seller seminars, informative articles on the Providence Hill blog, and special events like group client outings to local sporting events.  Who wouldn’t like to go to a Richmond Flying Squirrels’ game to unwind after buying a new home?

About John McGurn
John is a Richmond native, Top Realtor in the region, Associate Broker, and brings over 20 years of real estate experience to his clients. John has a unique ability to make each client feel as if they are his only client and is committed to their goals.

About Elliott Gravitt
Elliott is a Richmond native, graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, a Top Realtor in the region and Associate Broker. He provides his clients with vast knowledge of the Richmond area, history and neighborhoods. His patience, dedication and overall understanding of real estate allows him to provide his clients with service that makes a difference.

About Dawson Boyer
Dawson is a Richmond native, graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, a Top Realtor in the region. He is dedicated to ensuring his clients are educated about the process so that they have a fun and enjoyable experience. Dawson’s success can be attributed to his vast knowledge of Richmond Real Estate, his negotiating skills and commitment to the best interests of his clients.

About Jenny Brock
Jenny has lived in Richmond for over 13 years and is a proud James Madison University alumnus. As a CPA, Jenny uses her extensive business and client service experience to ensure each client has a seamless transaction. She combines her knowledge of the Richmond area with her passion for homes, people and interior design to help her clients achieve their goals.

Information about Providence Hill team members Caleb Boyer, Taylor Combs, Brinkley Taliaferro, Jamie Grabill, Carolyn Hill, Emily Gravitt, and Lisa Hart can be found at http://providencehillrva.com/about

About Providence Hill
Providence Hill is dedicated to the customer experience. Through their expertise, dedication and custom marketing strategies, they are able to help sellers prepare and sell homes for more money in less time, and assist their buyers with finding and purchasing their dream home.  For more information, please visit http://providencehillrva.com/ or call 804-512-9444.

Can Your Business Avoid Inviting Social Media Outrage? 27 Jul 2017 10:20 AM (8 years ago)

Some of it is self-inflicted and some of it is unexpected, but it seems more and more these days companies are finding themselves the target of an outraged social media audience.  Here are just a couple of recent examples:

• HBO recently announced a new show by the producers of Game of Thrones that will be set in an alternative timeline in which the south won the Civil War, and retained slavery until present day.  Social media, predictably, went nuts.  The prevailing attitude was that two white producers couldn’t be sensitive enough to the subject matter, and overall they seemed a little too excited about it.  HBO’s president recently issued a statement saying they stand behind the project, but understand that the announcement could have been handled better.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL asked fans to post animated GIFs on Twitter that show how excited they are for training camp to start.  As you can imagine, this backfired in a big way.  The Jaguars haven’t had much success over the last handful of seasons, and fans let them know about it.  Here’s a rundown of some of the GIFs they posted, none of which show the excitement the club was hoping for.
• Real estate firm Bedrock had to remove a billboard, apologize, and skulk away in shame, after social media outrage pointed out that it was racially insensitive.  The billboard, placed on a building in Detroit, had the tagline, “See Detroit Like We Do” and featured a bunch of smiling white people.  The problem is that 80% of Detroit’s population is African-American.

Seemingly every day, businesses walk into these types of problems.  What they seem to fail to understand is that social media, while an invaluable tool, can also be a nasty place full of people hoping to find ways to humiliate or be angry at you.  Imagine if everyone in the world had their own worldwide radio station, where they could broadcast whatever they wanted.  Yup … that’s pretty much what social media is.  Because of that, you need to tread lightly and carefully to avoid problems.

Here are some tips to help avoid walking into social media outrage:

Be Overly Sensitive

While many argue that people have become too sensitive, as a communications professional you have to know your audience.  If they’re overly sensitive, then you have to be as well.  In situations where race, gender, and sexuality are involved, you have to tread extremely lightly.  In the example above involving HBO, the initial announcement simply seemed … well … too excited about the whole thing.  With just a little forethought, they would have realized that slavery is the mother of all hot button issues.  They could have addressed that directly in the announcement and saved themselves some trouble.

Think of Every Possible Response

The Jaguars, in particular, should have thought ahead and they truly should have known better.  When your team has only won 11 games in the last three seasons then your fans might be a bit testy.  The whole thing was well-intentioned, but, honestly, they could have avoided this by not asking to be mocked.  While engagement in social media is what we all seek, if the choices are less engagement or the kind in which you come off looking stupid, I’d choose less engagement.

Be Diverse

This may seem obvious, given the third example above, but lack of diversity (in any direction) can and will be seen as a negative in most situations, and the social media outrage machine will get cranked up to eleven.  When using imagery in advertising or social media, ensure it reflects your audience in as many ways as possible.

In Conclusion

Let’s face it, some people don’t need much of an excuse to become outraged, but as communications professionals, it’s our job to minimize their reasons for them to get there.

The Basics of Crisis Communications 12 Jul 2017 11:12 AM (8 years ago)

Over the last week or so, we’ve seen the unfolding of the latest crisis in the White House, a meeting last summer taken by the president’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., with a Russian who claimed to have information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.  Whether you believe there’s anything to the story or not, the “optics” are bad given current ongoing investigations of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia during last year’s campaign, and the situation was made worse by being mishandled by Trump, Jr. and the White House.

Stonewalling and various stories about what that meeting was designed to be, as well as what it ended up being, led to several days of stories in the New York Times and elsewhere while the information trickled out.  The story may end up being a bombshell or may eventually fade away, but some simple crisis communications tactics would have gone a long way toward making it less damaging.

Don’t Stonewall

If a bad story comes out about your organization and you’re asked for comment, don’t avoid the reporter.  Be available and answer the questions.  Refusing to talk will only lead the reporter to dig more, and use other sources that may not have your best interests in mind.

Tell the Truth

This seems simple, but sometimes it isn’t.  Essentially, it means don’t lie. There’s a chance that a good reporter will figure out the truth, and then you’ll look even worse.

Be Transparent

This seems like the same thing as “tell the truth,” and it’s similar.  Being forthcoming with a reporter is the best way to keep a story from stretching into multiple stories.  Trump, Jr. released the email string that led up to the meeting on Twitter, saying he was being transparent, but it doesn’t really count if you’ve been less than transparent for several days or months before that.

Don’t Scoop the Reporter

One big mistake made by Donald Trump, Jr. (aside from coming up with a variety of explanations before finally telling the whole truth) was that he scooped the New York Times reporter.  After several straight days of stories about the meeting, the NYT managed to get a copy of email correspondence that led up to the meeting, proving that Trump, Jr. knew the meeting was at least presented as a way for the Trump campaign to get information on Secretary Clinton.  Once the newspaper had its story, Trump, Jr. was called for comment.  His representative asked for some time to craft a response.  During that “pause,” Trump, Jr. released the email correspondence himself via Twitter.  This may seem like a way to diffuse the story, but what it will really do is lead to problems in the future. The next time that publication has a story about him, they may either not bother calling or will insist on comment immediately and without delay.

Using crisis communications skills wouldn’t have made a story like this one go away, but they would have gotten the whole story out in the open in one day, rather than giving the impression that the White House and Trump, Jr. were hiding something.  The only thing worse than being caught at something is being caught and then being less than honest about it.

Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour Properties Announced for 2017 12 Jul 2017 10:31 AM (8 years ago)

Shirley Plantation

(Charles City, Virginia) – Westover Episcopal Church, one of the oldest parishes in the nation, is pleased to announce the homes on this year’s Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour.  This year’s list includes several properties not available on previous tours, including the oldest plantation in Virginia and the homes of several presidents.

Each year, some of America’s most historic homes open their doors for this tour, and some are only open to the public on that one day.  The tour is a fundraiser that has been organized for decades by Westover Church, and this year is being held on September 30.

The following properties are featured on this year’s tour:

• Berkeley Plantation: Built circa 1726, this plantation was the site of the first Thanksgiving and was the ancestral home of U.S. Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison.
•  Sherwood Forest Plantation: Home of President John Tyler, this plantation home was begun circa 1660 with additions through 1845.
• Shirley Plantation: Virginia’s oldest plantation, this property was settled in 1613, only six years after Jamestown was founded.  It’s the oldest family-owned business operating in North America.
• Pinecrest: Build in 1929 as a summer house, this structure is now used year-round with several additions.  It sits on 13 acres on a 1,500 foot stretch of the James River.
• River Ridge: Built on part of a land grant originally given to the first Royal Governor of Virginia, this property was also previously home to Chief Powhatan’s tribe and overlooks the Prequile Wildlife refuge.  The home built on the property in 1990 includes stonework originally used in a dismantled railroad in Norfolk.
• Westover Plantation: Built circa 1730, Westover Plantation is considered one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in America.
• Westover Episcopal Church: 400 years old and going strong, this church is home to one of the most historic parishes in the nation.

Click here for a map of the 2017 tour.

High-resolution property photos are available on request.

Details and Tickets:

Advance tickets are $35 and may be purchased online at www.westoverepiscopalchurch.org or by calling 804-512-9094 or 757-561-6430.

Advance ticket sales begin July 15, 2017 and end on September 29 at noon.  Tickets may also be purchased on the day of the tour at Westover Church, Sherwood Forest, Westover Plantation and River Ridge for $40.  Children under 12 are free when accompanied by an adult.  All ticket sales are non-refundable, and please note that many locations on the tour are not handicapped accessible.

Box lunches are available for pre-purchase for $15 each.  Advance purchase of boxed lunches begins on July 15 and ends September 27 at 5 p.m.  Pulled pork barbecue and Brunswick stew may also be purchased on the day of the tour. There will also be a bake sale and canned goods for sale at the church.

The house tour generates funds for Westover Church’s Meals on Wheels program and several other area social services programs.

Richmond-Area Team Finishes Successful First Year of Asset Resolution & Credit Services 7 Mar 2017 7:45 AM (8 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) – Competition among the nation’s community banks has never been greater, which means the Strategic Risk Associates (SRA) Investor Services Division led by Ray Santelli and Andy Ferguson is likely to remain busy.

Strategic Risk Associates

After more than 20 years in community banking, Santelli (former SVP for commercial lending and special assets) and Ferguson (former Chief Credit Officer for two banks) finished their first year working with SRA on a strong note, improving their client banks’ asset quality metrics and growing their clients’ bottom lines.  The pair performs services that include problem asset resolution and management, enhanced loan reviews and high level fractional credit support.

“We have spoken with many banks that have greatly improved their asset quality metrics since the Great Recession but still have nonperforming assets on their balance sheets,” said Santelli.  “These lingering NPA’s are often the most difficult to resolve. Our firm efficiently brings additional resources to our clients that advance their problem asset resolution efforts while allowing them to fully concentrate on growing their loan books and earnings.”

An overview of the services provided by Santelli and Ferguson for clients in 2016 includes:

• Due diligence for a community bank investor prior to his investment in a Georgia-based community bank.
• Designed an asset resolution plan, the centerpiece of a recapitalization for a Southeast based community bank.
• Long-term engagement for a community bank with a $65 million NPA portfolio.  Strategies and methods utilized resulted in a 50% reduction of the NPA portfolio in less than 9 months.
• Provided fractional asset resolution work for a Virginia-based bank.
• Acted as Chief Credit Officer to comply with post-exam mandates issued by a bank’s regulator.

Regardless of how the economy performs for the remainder of 2017, the pace of consolidation as well as the competitive nature of the banking industry isn’t likely to change.  To discuss your bank’s asset resolution and credit needs, please call Ray Santelli at (804) 347-2136.

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Welcome to the First Real Social Media Presidency 30 Nov 2016 8:10 AM (8 years ago)

Note: This article is not meant to be a commentary on the merits of one candidate versus another.  There is no doubt that Donald Trump will be a president unlike any that we’ve seen before.  This is a thought that energizes some and frightens others.  This post is designed to look at one facet of his uniqueness — his heavy use of social media.

When President Barack Obama was elected, he was hailed as being the first U.S. leader to be comfortable with technology.  He was young-ish (on the cusp of being a member of Generation X) and was touted as the first emailing president.  He basically said we would get his Blackberry when it was pried from his cold, dead fingers, and the fact that there was a fight over his Blackberry makes us realize that in terms of technology, Obama’s first inauguration was a long, long time ago.

Since the Obama administration began in January of 2009, we’ve seen the user base of Facebook grow from about 150 million to its now-astronomical 1.8 billion.

And, here’s something to think about: When Barack Obama was inaugurated, the second most popular social media outlet was MySpace.  Twitter was third.

So, with all of this, it’s not surprising that our next president, Donald Trump, will use technology in a very different way than others who have held the office.  The only thing that IS surprising is that at 70 years, he’s 15 years older than Obama, and is a month older than Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush.

Donald Trump used Twitter during the campaign and since being elected in a way that no one else has dared.  He’s using it exactly as we, the general public, have used it.

How many times have you seen your Facebook friends or Twitter followers post inane information about their breakfast, or political observations that end up ticking off friends and family?  That’s exactly what Trump does.  If someone irritates him, he tweets about it.  If there’s something he wants to make public, he tweets about it.  Finally, if he wants to point out that he was right about something, he tweets about it … a lot.  He’s been using Twitter as his primary method of communication so much lately that he hasn’t held a press conference since July.

In many ways, Trump is like your 70-year-old mother who figured out how to use Facebook.  You’re happy she’s communicating, but some of it is cringe-worthy.

The issue here is that while your mother may have 30 or 40 friends on Facebook, Donald Trump has 16.4 million followers on Twitter.  When he takes control of the POTUS Twitter feed, it will add another 12.3 million followers (although there’s likely overlap in those numbers.)  For comparison, the highest circulation newspaper in the U.S. has about 2.25 million readers.

When your mother posts something that’s TMI, only a few dozen people know.  When Trump goes on a tirade, the whole world knows.

Many will question whether Trump’s heavy use of Twitter is presidential.  It’s certainly combative, and one wonders what other things he could be doing instead of tweeting at 3 a.m.  But, in the end, his base responds to it, and if his only goal was to be elected, he succeeded.  Since being elected earlier this month, he’s shown no sign of changing his style.  And, just like we’ve had to get used to mom posting weird stuff on social media at times, we may as well get used to seeing it from our president.

Why Isn’t There Anything New in Social Media? 3 Nov 2016 8:03 AM (8 years ago)

One thing you’ll hear social media “experts” (and be cautious around anyone who actually calls themselves that) tell business leaders over and over again is that you have to constantly keep an eye out for the newest thing, because you never know when the current big thing will go away.

Okay … good advice.  But, where’s the newest thing?  Is there going to be one?

Looking at the landscape of social media, it really hasn’t changed much for a while now.  By a while, I mean the last few years, which in social media is an eternity.  We’ve had Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for at least 10 years each.  Pinterest and Instagram, meanwhile, came into the world six and four years ago ago, respectively.  For the purposes of this discussion, I’ll consider those the “big five”.  I realize this leaves out Snapchat and many of the instant messaging text-like services, but those are difficult to use for business purposes.  It also leaves out Tumblr and other blogging services, but for the purposes of this discussion, I’m not considering blogging.  Finally, it leaves out Google+ because, well, the service should have died long ago.

So, why haven’t we seen anything new pop up that takes users away from the “big five” group?  The fact is, there’s simply no new technology popping up that can’t be used on those big five.  Ten years ago, most of what was posted was text and links.  That was covered by Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Then, as mobile phone cameras became better, pictures were a popular thing to post.  You can do that on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and the rise of mobile phone photography led to the popularization of Instagram and Pinterest.  Video also became a popular thing to post, which was covered by three of the big five, along with YouTube and Vimeo.  Vine briefly became popular for short video clips, but was swallowed up by Twitter and recently shut down.

So, what’s next?  It’s hard to say.  We may have reached near saturation on users for social media, at least in the U.S.  The younger kids who are just reaching the age where they’re using social media seem to flock to Instagram and Twitter, two of the big five.  But, if something new is going to arrive, it will likely be those kids using it first.  In a way, those of us with preteen and young teen kids may be at an advantage, because we should be keeping an eye on what they’re doing anyhow.

In the end, what I believe we’ll find is that the big five won’t change in the next five years, barring a complete collapse of one of the companies for reasons that have nothing to do with the number of users on the site.  Twitter is the most likely possibility there, although the more likely outcome of that company’s problems is that they’re sold to a larger group.   Other than that possibility, what we’re most likely to see is any new technology is simply integrated into the existing social media “giants,” compelling the average user to simply start using them there.

How to Podcast the Right Way 25 Oct 2016 8:57 AM (9 years ago)

Podcasting is more popular than ever, with many organizations realizing it’s a great way to reach people while entertaining them during their morning drive, exercising, or during downtime at work. Contrary to the title of this post, there truly is no wrong way to do podcast, but there are techniques that will help maximize the number of listeners findings and sticking with your show.

Where should you record your show?

The first thing you need to consider is where physically you plan to record your show.  When I podcast for myself or for clients, I use a dedicated studio space.  While it’s best to have a studio with the walls lined with foam, not everyone can build one of those.  At minimum, you need a quiet place that doesn’t echo very much.  High ceilings are your enemy, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have.  One pro tip is to record in a closet.  The confined space will produce a surprisingly good sound.  Another strange way to go is to record in your car.  I learned this while I was a roving radio reporter.  Because of the upholstery, there is no echo from inside your car!

How should you record your show?

Many people use a USB microphone like this one to record directly into their computer.  I’m not a fan of this setup, because computers have fans, and many times you can hear that fan in the recording.  When podcasting for clients, I use a digital recorder plugged into the output of a mixing board.  My microphone and telephone interview setup are then plugged into the mixing board, so I’m able to adjust the sound levels.  While this is optimal, it’s not required.

The digital recorder I use is the Zoom H2, which I call my “Swiss Army Knife recorder”.  It can be plugged into a mixing board, but it also has a very good microphone as well.  You can even screw on a handle, to put it in a microphone stand or hold it like a stick mic.  If you can’t afford one of these, a decent digital voice recorder with a medium-quality microphone will also do.

How should you edit your show?

We all have times when we stumble, lose our place, or stop making sense.  Thankfully, there is a fantastic open source audio editor that is available for free.  For all of your editing needs, check out Audacity.

What should you record?

And now to the tough question.  While audio quality is important, if your show is not very interesting or if it’s a disorganized mess, people will move on.

• Figure out why you want to do this show.  What’s the point, really?  If you’re podcasting for your organization, one of your biggest goals should be to educate the listener about your business.  BUT, don’t use the time as an advertisement.  Ads are necessary evils that people put up with in order to get to the real content.  They’re not likely to stick around if all of the content is an advertisement.  Instead, perhaps use the time to give tips on what you do for a living, whether it’s marketing, manufacturing, or a nonprofit.  People may tune in to learn, and if they really want more information, they’ll reach out to you because they now consider you an expert.
• Find a topic that’s interesting to you.  If you’re not interested, your listeners won’t be either.  Your show topic should be a passion.
• Organize each episode in advance.  I don’t mean you should script the show, because it will become painfully obvious very quickly that you’re reading to the listeners, unless you’re a professional broadcaster with years of experience.  You should have a plan for the flow of the show, with bullet points to guide you through the program.  Even the most free-wheeling radio shows do this.
• Have a conversation.  Whether you have one host, two hosts, or more, the discussion should be conversational.  No one wants to listen to a heavily scripted program.  Don’t sweat it if you include an occasional “um” and “er” in the flow of your conversation.  That’s how people talk, and your listeners aren’t likely to notice it much, unless it’s every third word.
• Do interviews.  Bringing in experts, either from inside or outside your organization, is a great way to move the conversation along.  Ideally, these interviews should be in person, but if you need to record a telephone conversation, there are technical solutions available on your app store or via retailers like Amazon.
• Add music.  Nothing moves things along and sets the mood like music.  Production music libraries are fairly affordable.  Check out a variety of them here.

How should you distribute your program?

First and foremost, your podcast should be available on your website.  However, you want people to find it elsewhere as well.  If you know how to create an RSS feed, which is pretty easy using a platform like WordPress, it’s not hard to get your podcast included on iTunes.  Because iTunes is exclusively on iPhones, you should also include your show on sites like Stitcher and Google Play.

When you publish a new episode of your podcast, you should also post about it on social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Would you like some samples?

You can listen to a few shows we’ve produced for clients on our podcast samples page.

Any questions?

Podcasting can be very valuable, but a little frightening for people.  If you have questions, feel free to leave them in comments, or use our contact form to reach out to me directly.

Carpenter Co. and SleepBetter.org “Getting Real” About Bad Pillows 31 Jul 2016 11:29 AM (9 years ago)

(Richmond, VA) – After years of hearing about the terrible pillows people are trying (in most cases unsuccessfully) to use for sleep, the world’s largest maker of comfort cushion products is fed up.

“It’s time that the truth was told,” said Dan Schecter, Carpenter Co. Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and creator of sleep news and advice website SleepBetter.org.  “Most people are sleeping on terrible pillows.  These pillows are either dirty, worn out, or poorly made.”

To combat this growing problem, Carpenter Co. and SleepBetter.org are launching the Great American Bad Pillow Project.  The program will provide a one-stop location for learning about what makes a good pillow, how to choose a new one and how consumers can take care of the pillows they have.

Having the right pillow, and having one that isn’t old and gross, isn’t just a comfort issue.  It’s a medical one, according to Dr. Neil Kline from the American Sleep Association.

“There is data that suggests that allergens could impact sleep,” said Dr. Kline.  “For this reason, it is important to have a pillow that is not having a negative effect on breathing during sleep.  It is recommended that you replace your pillow every year to 18 months.”

Carpenter Co. has set up what it calls the “Pillow Education Hub” on its SleepBetter.org website, which can be found at http://sleepbetter.org/great-american-bad-pillow-project/.  To encourage individuals to visit the website and learn about good pillows and good sleep hygiene, the company is also launching the Great American Bad Pillow Project Contest, which begins on August 1.  At the end of the contest period, on September 1, three winners will receive a bedding makeover package from Carpenter Co. that includes two Serene Foam pillows, one Beyond Down® comforter, one Serene Foam “Bed in a Box” 10-inch mattress, and one Iso•Cool® mattress topper.

About SleepBetter.org
Created by Carpenter Co., SleepBetter.org is dedicated to helping people sleep better. Designed as an online resource, the website creates a forum for visitors to define, discuss and discover solutions to fit their particular sleep needs. SleepBetter.org’s quest is to continually gather pertinent sleep information, then share this knowledge with the general public. The site also shares tips on the best sleep-related products, both in stores and online. SleepBetter.org has created the SleepBetter seal as a way to easily identify products recommended for their superior quality or scientifically based design. For more information, please visit www.SleepBetter.org.

About Carpenter Co.
Carpenter Co. is the largest manufacturer of comfort cushioning products in the world. The Richmond, Va.-based company manufactures a wide variety of polyurethane foam and polyester fiber products, all designed to make the world more comfortable. Born and built in the United States, Carpenter Co. has a 65-year history of designing the world’s most comfortable products and remains on the cutting edge of product development, creating innovative products that improve sleep and enhance active lifestyles. The Carpenter Co. Consumer Products Division offers a dynamic line of trusted products, including Isotonic®, ErgoFresh, Ambient and Iso•Cool® by Isotonic® pillows, mattress pads and neck pillows as well as comfort technologies like Avena and Avela and new technologies like IsoFresh. For more information, visit www.carpenter.com.

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Facebook’s Latest News Feed Changes: What They Mean 7 Jul 2016 6:49 AM (9 years ago)

Once again, Facebook content publishers are feeling the pinch.

Facebook announced last week a change in the algorithm that creates its user news feed.  That change, by design, prioritizes content created by friends and family over content created by Facebook Pages.

What this means is that if part of your business plan is traffic from Facebook-published content, and you haven’t noticed a change yet, you will soon.  I started noticing it several weeks ago for our client content.  Initially we thought it was a summer downturn that would reverse itself, but soon realized something else was afoot.  From our observations, organic reach of our client posts is down at least 25-percent, and that’s exactly what Facebook had planned.

What do these changes mean for you?  Basically, since Facebook now says it wants its users to see more friends and family content, your content will be seen by fewer people.  That means fewer eyeballs, and thus fewer likes, comments, and shares.

What can you do about it? Not much. While Facebook says its reason for making the change is to reduce spam in user feeds, another big reason is that it gives content publishers one more push in the direction of paying Facebook for more engagement.  By boosting a post, even for a modest amount of perhaps $5, you can increase engagement dramatically by ensuring more people see your post in their news feed.

Beyond paying for engagement, it’s critical that your content is interesting, well written, and posted properly.  One way around the new algorithm changes is to try to generate more “shares” of your content.  Since those shares are posts by “friends and family,” they’ll get a higher priority in the news feed.

Additionally, you can encourage your “fans” to like, comment and share more. This obviously seems like something you would have wanted to do all along, but it’s even more critical now. One portion of the algorithm that remains is that if a user has liked and commented frequently on your content, they are then more likely to see your future content in their news feeds.

Facebook says it’s doing this because it realize that the mass of humanity that uses the service is its biggest asset.  Content publishers may start leaving in droves, but in the end they’re simply throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  There is no replacement for the traffic generated by Facebook, and until there is, we need to keep playing the game as best we can.

Get Presidential on the 2016 Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour 14 Jun 2016 9:47 AM (9 years ago)

(Charles City, Virginia) – With the 2016 presidential election fast approaching, Westover Church, one of the oldest churches in the United States, is inviting you to learn about the presidents of the past, while celebrating some of Virginia’s most historic and unique architecture.

The Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour, organized for decades by Westover Church and held this year on September 17, is a tour of historic and significant Charles City homes and gardens, some of which are open to the public for this one day each year.  The tour includes the homes of John Tyler, William Henry Harrison, and Benjamin Harrison.

Westover Church itself has presidential history as well.  George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt both worshipped there.  Westover Parish was formed more than 400 years ago near the site of the Jamestown settlement.  The church structure was completed in 1730 at its present site on Herring Creek.

The following properties are featured on this year’s tour:

• Berkeley Plantation: Built circa 1726, this plantation was the site of the first Thanksgiving and was the ancestral home of U.S. Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison.
• Sherwood Forest Plantation: Home of President John Tyler, this plantation home was begun circa 1660 with additions through 1845.
• Westover Plantation: Built circa 1730, Westover Plantation is considered one of the most perfect examples of Georgian architecture in America.
• Westover Episcopal Church: 400 years old and going strong, this church is home to one of the most historic parishes in the nation.
• Belle Air Plantation: One of the oldest surviving frame dwellings in America, this home was built circa 1700.  The original property was purchased in 1662.
• River Edge: A restoration work in progress, this plantation was built circa 1790.  Visitors will see with their own eyes the considerable work that is being done to bring this historic property back to its former glory.
• Glenns: One of the more unique homes found anywhere, this home has only two right angles in its structure.  It was constructed with hand-hewn beams recovered from local barns and churches and is filled with family antiques, paintings and whimsical sculptures.
• Lazare Gallery and Wurdeman House: Lazare Gallery is a 6,300 square foot building containing the West’s foremost repository of paintings from the Moscow School of Russian Realism.  The collection is maintained by John and Kathy Wurdeman, who live in the adjacent residence.
• VCU Rice Rivers Center: The Virginia Commonwealth University Rice Rivers Center is a field station devoted to environmental research, teaching and public service.  The facility collaborates with environmental agencies to study river ecosystems, water quality and the environment.

Details and Tickets:

Advance tickets are $35 and may be purchased online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2016-autumn-pilgrimage-house-tour-tickets-24737967928 or by calling 804-829-2488.  Box lunches are also available for pre-purchase.  Advance ticket and box lunch sales begin June 15.  Advance ticket sales end on September 16, while advance box lunch sales end September 14.  Tickets may also be purchased on the day of the tour at Westover Church for $40.  Pulled pork barbeque and Brunswick stew can also be purchased on the day of the tour.

The house tour generates funds for Westover Church’s Meals on Wheels program and other area social services programs.

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Twitter Makes the Right Call in Easing Character Count 18 May 2016 8:01 AM (9 years ago)

Word leaked out this week that Twitter is easing its 140-character restrictions on posts.  When I first heard some time ago that they were considering this move, I thought it was insane.  The character count is what makes Twitter unique and … well … not Facebook.  But, the report on how they’re going to do it makes perfect sense.  It makes the service more flexible while at the same time keeping it unique.

The changes, which will take effect in the next couple of weeks, will simply modify the way links and pictures are counted.  Currently, links take up 23 characters, regardless of how long they really are.  Pictures, meanwhile, take up 24 characters.  Twitter didn’t yet give specifics of how the change will work because it hasn’t officially made an announcement on it, but a source told Bloomberg that the links and pictures will no longer count in the 140-character limit.

Twitter started out with the character limit because back in the day people posted to Twitter primarily via text.  It kept the limit even though most people on the service have smartphones.

The change, while definitely giving more characters back to people, preserves the concise nature of Twitter.  Even after the switch, there will be no rambling tweets.  It also encourages users to post more pictures and videos, something it’s hard to do now because of the character limit.

In the end, Twitter keeps what makes it special, but users get more flexibility.  This is the proper way to grow and modify a social media service.  For an example of what NOT to do, check out what Foursquare did.

Should “Podcasts” Be Called Something Else? 17 May 2016 8:00 AM (9 years ago)

It’s no secret that podcasting, on demand audio that you can listen to on your handheld device or computer, hasn’t taken off like many thought it would 10 years ago.  It’s certainly growing in popularity due to hit shows like Serial, but many (myself included) expected more by now.

Is the problem as simple as something like the name?

The term “Podcasting” came from the original device used to listen to these shows, the iPod.  Since no one uses iPods anymore, is it time to call it something else that’s more descriptive?  A recent article by Jacobs Media Strategies surveyed many of the top names in the podcasting space, and asked them that question.  The overwhelming answer was that they’re simply called podcasts, and that any attempt to change the name would be silly and a waste of time.

I tend to agree with the experts, but I do wonder if the name is holding back adoption of this form of media.

Being a podcaster, I often find myself explaining podcasting to people who don’t know much about it.  Sadly, the name doesn’t do anything to help my task.  Normally I just say it’s streaming downloadable audio programming, or talk radio you download and listen to on your phone.  While that “talk radio” descriptor doesn’t cover every podcast available, it covers the vast majority of them.  Once people hear that description, particularly if they’re inclined to listen to niche talk radio, they get more interested.

So … what would be a better name?  I like “streaming talk radio” but, again, that really doesn’t cover everything available in the podcasting universe.  Many prefer “on demand audio” but that sounds stuffy.  “Streaming radio” might work, but purists will remind us that radio is a delivery system that has nothing to do with podcasts.

So what’s the answer?  While I do think that podcasting has an unfortunate name, changing it will be like trying to get some people (like my wife) to stop calling aluminum wrap “tin foil”.  No matter how much it bugs you, it’s a waste of time.

American Sleep Association Endorses Carpenter Co. Products 15 Mar 2016 5:20 AM (9 years ago)

Richmond, Virginia (March 15, 2016) – Carpenter Co., the world’s largest maker of comfort cushion products, announced today that selected products from its line are now endorsed by the American Sleep Association (ASA).  As part of the endorsement, the ASA has agreed to partner with Carpenter Co. and SleepBetter by offering medical opinions as well as advice to visitors to the SleepBetter.org website and social media properties.

Products with the SleepBetter seal are highly recommended for their superior quality and scientifically based design. Carpenter Co.’s SleepBetter line of products include pillows, mattresses, mattress toppers, and mattress pads.  The company launched the SleepBetter.org website eight years ago, to provide a forum for visitors to define, discuss and discover solutions to fit their particular sleep needs. SleepBetter.org’s quest is to continually gather pertinent sleep information, then share this knowledge with the general public.

“We are happy to be associated with the ASA, given its focus on sleep and the healthy lifestyle that is the cornerstone of what the organization does,” said Dan Schecter, Carpenter Co.’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  “We do not associate ourselves with just anyone, but could not resist the opportunity to work with ASA on what our passion is all about.”

ASA was founded in 2002 by sleep clinicians as a member-driven public awareness effort. ASA believes that every member of the community (physician, scientist, allied health care, technologist, patient, family member, and corporate partner) can offer beneficial information on the importance of healthy sleep.  The ASA’s board of directors and contributors include dozens of sleep doctors and other professionals from across the United States.

“After researching SleepBetter products, we found that each is designed with healthy sleep in mind,” said ASA Director Dr. Neil Kline. “Carpenter Co.’s team of scientists and technicians have been working for 60 years to perfect the right products for sleep. In fact, Carpenter Co. products are what my own family has slept on for years.”

Products with the ASA endorsement will appear in retailers soon.  ASA contributions to SleepBetter.org, its Facebook page (http://facebook.com/sleepbetter) and its Twitter account (http://twitter.com/sleep_better) will begin immediately.  Those contributions will include articles about sleep medicine, new advances in sleep, and answers to questions submitted for the long-running “Ask SleepBetter” column.

About Carpenter Co.
Carpenter Co. is the largest manufacturer of comfort cushioning products in the world. The Richmond, Va.-based company manufactures a wide variety of polyurethane foam and polyester fiber products, all designed to make the world more comfortable. Born and built in the United States, Carpenter Co. has a 65-year history of designing the world’s most comfortable products and remains on the cutting edge of product development, creating innovative products that improve sleep and enhance active lifestyles. For more information, visit  www.sleepbetter.org

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AP Style … or Not? 24 Feb 2016 7:36 AM (9 years ago)

If you’ve checked out the bio for me on the About EndGame PR page, you know that I started my communications career in broadcast news.  I worked as a radio anchor and reporter, a TV news producer, and then as a radio news director and morning anchor.  One thing you learn very quickly in broadcast news is that you have to write fast, you have to write accurately, and you have to write conversationally.  While those first two lessons have been invaluable, the third has been extremely helpful as well, as I’ve transitioned into being a content creator.

Most professionals know by now that a regular stream of content for your website and social media properties is important.  The problem is that when some business owners sit down to write an article or blog post, they try to emulate the Wall Street Journal.  In short … they rely too far on what is called AP Style, even if they don’t know what it is.

The AP Stylebook, published since 1953, is a journalist’s bible for spelling, language, punctuation, usage and style.  The problem is that while it’s enormously useful for all journalists, its tips are geared heavily toward newspaper reporters.  While newspaper writing has become much more casual over the last decade, it’s still not really right for today’s web-based content.

When writing for blogs and social media, it’s best to put down the words in a way that’s close to how you would speak them.  This is very similar to the way broadcast copy should be written.  It should be conversational and, at least with blogs and social media, with a little bit of an attitude. What this means is that contractions are okay, some slang is okay, and writing like the Wall Street Journal is out of the question.

So, when writing a company blog post, what’s most important?  Clearly, misspellings are a no-no, as they make your company look less than intelligent.  Proper grammar is also important, but can sometimes be stretched a bit.  Avoid too many industry buzzwords and acronyms, unless you know the only people reading your post will be those who understand that language.  Finally, above all, loosen up a bit.

EndGamePR.com: A Look Back 4 Feb 2016 5:59 AM (9 years ago)

Today is Facebook’s 12th birthday, and to celebrate, it’s offering you a video of your friendships over the years.  It gives you a fun way to see how much people have changed, particularly if you’ve been on Facebook for a long time.

Last week was EndGame PR’s 10th birthday, and one of the ways we celebrated was to launch the all new website you’re looking at right now.  As I was in the process of building the site, it hit me just how much EndGamePR.com has changed since I published the first version in early 2006. So, I decided to take a look back.  Here is the design for the very first EndGamePR.com … in all its glory.  Click the image for a larger version, if you dare.

The site was straight HTML with no CMS.  What this means, in short, is that it took a good long time to build and to update.

The design you see above didn’t last long.  Less than two years after launching the website, I tweaked things and moved on to this:

While they look pretty rough now, these first two designs were not bad for 2006 to 2008.  Check out what Yahoo.com looked like back then!  If you notice some fonts not being consistent, don’t blame that one on me.  I grabbed this screenshot from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, which tends to mess with fonts sometimes.

What was really important about this second version is that it had a blog.  The blog was powered by WordPress.  While the content management system (CMS) is now everywhere, at that time it was just a few years old and was almost exclusively used as blogging software.  That all changed, though, as it grew into software you could use to build an entire website.  That led to the next iteration of EndGamePR.com, when I went “all in” with WordPress…

This 2009 version of the website was built entirely with WordPress.  It was much cleaner and a LOT easier to update than the old HTML versions.  Wordpress was still a little raw, but it made my life much easier.  I still like this particular version of the website (other than my weird decision to use orange for section headers) but it didn’t last long before making way for this design…

As you can see, I was getting better at building websites.  This version launched in early 2010 and stuck around for a good long while — longer than it should have, if I’m being honest with myself.  I probably kept it so long because I was always so fond of the look.  Also, there’s the whole “shoemaker’s kids have no shoes” thing.  I was so busy working on other people’s sites that I didn’t have time for my own.  But, as EndGame PR’s 10th birthday approached, I knew it was a great time to launch the all new EndGamePR.com — the one you’re looking at now.

This new site has a lot of benefits, other than just being “new.”  The most important is that it’s responsive.  What that means is that its design changes to best fit the size of the screen being used to view it.  Mobile design is extremely important these days, and not having it can actually harm your search engine rankings.

I’d love to hear any feedback you have about the new website.  Feel free to leave it in comments, or just shoot me a private note via our contact page.

Richmond Area PR and Social Media Firm Turns 10 27 Jan 2016 8:56 AM (9 years ago)

(Richmond, VA) — Richmond area-based public relations and social media firm EndGame Public Relations is celebrating a decade in business this week.

The firm, founded and owned by veteran communicator Steve Mullen, launched on January 27, 2006.  Mullen worked in local TV and radio news starting in the early 1990’s before changing careers to work in public relations at The Martin Agency and Circuit City.

“The business has changed so much since I started this business,” said Mullen.  “Back in 2006, social media was in its infancy, and the best ways to reach large groups of people were pitching stories to the media and holding events.  Now, we have so many ways to reach an audience directly without the story being filtered through the media or dealing with the expense of an event.”

EndGame PR provides services that include social media management and strategy, media relations, web design and management, and podcast production.  The firm has a client roster that includes Carpenter Co., FightSMA, Unisys, the Community College Workforce Alliance, and the Council for Exceptional Children.

To celebrate the birthday, EndGame PR this week launched a redesigned website and company logo.

About EndGame Public Relations, LLC
Founded in 2006 by veteran communicator Steve Mullen, EndGame PR is a full service firm specializing in social media management, content creation, media relations services and search engine optimization for clients. For more information, please visit EndGamePR.com.

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Happy 10th Birthday, EndGame PR 27 Jan 2016 5:45 AM (9 years ago)

On January 27, 2006, I took a step.  In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a “one giant leap” kind of step, but for me it felt that big.  On that day, I started my own PR firm.

I’d already been thinking about starting my own public relations firm for some time, and I’d even picked out a name.  But, on that day, I hopped onto the web and bought the domain name endgamepr.com.  It seems like a strange thing on which to peg your company’s “launch” date, but the start of this company was such an evolution of an idea, it’s all I have.

Back then, I was almost exclusively a local and national media relations guy.  That’s what I’d done while working for The Martin Agency, and that’s what I’d done while working for Circuit City.  The move to social media hadn’t begun yet.  Facebook was in its infancy, and Twitter and LinkedIn didn’t exist yet.  Likewise, I wasn’t podcasting yet, although I was producing what we called “Audio News Releases,” and were essentially pre-produced radio news stories.

Things began to change almost immediately for me and for the business.  In 2007, I started my first podcast series, and was soon producing them for clients.  About that same time, I was talked into building a website for a client, and that also became one of EndGame PR’s offerings.  Also in 2007, I started blogging for clients as a way to reach their audience and help their search rankings.  Then, the big changes started.

Facebook was gaining steam, and businesses were starting to notice.  In 2007, the social networking site had less than 60-million users.  Two years later, they had six times that number.  In PR, the best way to promote something is to be where the people are.  It used to be that the people were best found through the mass media.  Now, we had a way to talk with large numbers of them directly.  EndGame PR’s Facebook Page was founded in 2008, and I started using it to find the best way to reach the right people.  Not long after, I started doing the same for clients.

By the time EndGame PR reached five years old, PR and my business had changed so much that I wasn’t even sure what I did was public relations anymore.  I’ve come to the conclusion that it is, but I prefer to call it Social Media PR.

What I’ve enjoyed about the changes that have come to this firm in the last 10 years is that they allow me to do all of the things that I enjoy the most.  I get to use my writing skills through articles, blog posts and news releases.  I get to satisfy the geek in me by digging into website code.  I get to keep in touch with the reporting business by promoting clients in the media.  And, finally, I get to hearken back to my days in radio news by producing podcasts.

I couldn’t possibly have predicted back in 2006 where I’d be now.  Can you imagine what the PR business will be like when EndGame PR turns 20?

Click here to read EndGame PR’s 10th birthday news release.

EndGame PR Launches Two New Client Podcasts 14 Jan 2016 9:25 AM (9 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) – EndGame Public Relations, LLC, a Richmond, Virginia based social media PR firm, is pleased to announce the launch of two all new client podcast series.

EndGame PR provides website and social media management, content creation, and media relations services for clients. Its podcast production service, which creates individual episodes or series for clients, is the only one of its kind in the area.

“Podcasting is exploding, with the popularity of Serial and other new podcast series leading more and more people to realize that accessing new shows is fun and not very difficult,” said EndGame PR President Steve Mullen.

The two new series, which are both available online and on iTunes, offer very different information.

Workforce Virginia, which is produced with the Community College Workforce Alliance, provides information for HR professionals, trainers, and other managers, to help ensure their employees are fully trained.

Episodes of Workforce Virginia can be accessed here:
http://ccwatraining.org/category/podcast/

Workforce Virginia is available on iTunes at this link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/workforce-virginia-podcast/id1073732868

Teaching Exceptionally, produced with the Council for Exceptional Children, provides tips and information for new special and gifted education teachers, with a goal of reducing the number of individuals who leave the profession.

Episodes of Teaching Exceptionally can be accessed here:
http://www.pubs.cec.sped.org/category/podcasts/

Teaching Exceptionally is also available on iTunes at this link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-exceptionally-podcast/id1064175351

About EndGame Public Relations, LLC
Founded in 2006 by veteran communicator Steve Mullen, EndGame PR is a full service firm specializing in social media management, content creation, media relations services and search engine optimization for clients. For more information, please visit EndGamePR.com.

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"Serial" Saved Podcasting 25 Nov 2015 8:47 AM (9 years ago)

Millions of fans of the podcast series Serial (including my wife) are checking their podcasting apps daily, hoping that they’ll receive a Thanksgiving present.  For fans of podcasting, whether they like Serial or not, that’s a wonderful thing.

The NPR-produced series, which debuted in October 2014, was a spinoff of the radio program “This American Life.”   It investigated the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, an 18-year-old student at Baltimore’s Woodlawn High School. Her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was charged with her murder and given life in prison.

Serial became a worldwide phenomenon.  It spawned multiple “shows about the show” as well as online recaps and even YouTube parodies.  It also became the fastest series to reach five million downloads.  The first episode of the second season, which will serialize the case of Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier who mysteriously vanished from his post in Afghanistan in 2009, is scheduled to be released any day now.

Why is this remarkable and why am I writing about it?  Because Serial saved podcasting.

Back in 2007 when I created the EndGame PR Podcast Production Service, podcasting was still in its infancy.  I launched my own show that year, Startup BizCast, and published 86 episodes of small business advice before the program ended its run in 2009.  Around that same period, I produced several other series for clients that included the Virginia Community College System, the Richmond Association of REALTORS, and FightSMA.  To my knowledge, my firm’s production service is still unique in the Richmond area.

I thought podcasting would explode in popularity.  By the time I started producing, the concept had already been around for a few years.  The shows were free, on demand, and could be enjoyed in the car or wherever listening to radio is an option.  I was wrong.

Basically, people just didn’t understand how to access podcasts.  In 2007 and even 2009, smartphones (the best way to access a podcast) were still a relatively new thing.  Even a handful of years later, while people had heard of podcasting, many either didn’t know how to access them or figured they were something for technology geeks.

When Serial took off last fall, that all changed.  People wanted to figure out how to use the technology, and realized it wasn’t that hard after all.  Suddenly, people are realizing how cool it is to be able to access thousands upon thousands of niche programs whenever they please.  Corporations and other organizations are starting to take notice again, seeing that podcasting is a great way to get their message out or educate people.  I have noticed this anecdotally, by the number of new client series I’ve begun over the last month, after not launching a new one for several years.

In the end, all it took was one show to break out for people to recognize the potential of the format.  Thank you Serial.

Frontier Academy Answers the Question “Can Millennials Be Managed?” 12 Nov 2015 8:08 AM (9 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) – By 2020, Millennials are expected to make up half of the nation’s workforce, and companies are learning that the values and expectations of the Millennial generation are different than those of previous generations. Can this group of 20-somethings be managed?

Frontier Academy, the professional development arm of The Frontier Project, is known in the business world for its unique workshops. The company facilitates a wide variety of courses designed to relieve business leader “pain points,” but perhaps none are as painful as the friction caused by the millions of Millennials who now work alongside older colleagues from Generation X and Baby Boomers.

“Millennials place more emphasis on work/life balance and crave more feedback from their supervisors,” said Ryann Wayne, CEO of Frontier Academy and Co-Founder of The Frontier Project. “We developed the Managing Millennials curriculum to help our clients navigate this new generation and show them how to manage this young generation’s expectations and re-focus its creativity.”

Frontier Academy developed the “Managing Millennials” workshop for organizations and managers who want to stay competitive, keep talented employees and help other generations of workers (Gen X and Boomers) who are looking to work productively with their Millennials counterparts.

Frontier Academy began offering courses in 2007, helping employees and executives at a wide variety of organizations to develop skills such as The Art of Delivering Presentations, Negotiation, Influencing Stakeholders, and Leading Effective Meetings. Frontier Academy currently offers 27 courses, and has plans to significantly expand that number in the next few years.

“Frontier Academy’s programs are so effective because our participants get to work through a real-life business issue they are facing,” said Wayne. “Not only are they gaining the benefit of learning new tools, they are actually able to apply them and the lessons stay with them when they return to their day-to-day roles.”

Frontier Academy has trained thousands of people, from a wide variety of recognized companies, including Global 1000 clients Allianz Global Assistance and Interbake Foods, Inc. in addition to U.S. manufacturers, such as Hamilton Beach and nonprofit organizations, such as U.S. Green Building Council.

The next Managing Millennials workshop in Richmond, Virginia begins on Tuesday November 17th, 2105. The cost of the one-day workshop is $475.00 and interested parties can learn more at www.TheFrontierAcademy.com

About Frontier Academy
A portfolio company of The Frontier Project, Frontier Academy provides professional development workshops for people who want to think and grow in new ways.  The company offers a wide variety of sales, leadership and workplace topics, such as Active Listening, Negotiation, Innovation, Influencing Stakeholders, and Success in a Virtual Workplace. Frontier Academy offers open-enrollment classes for individuals seeking training opportunities as well as comprehensive off-the-shelf and custom curriculum for companies needing to train their workforce. For a complete list of Professional development workshops, visit http://www.thefrontieracademy.com/open-enrollment .

Frontier Academy facilitates customized programs for clients all over the world. Currently, the company provides open enrollment workshops in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Dallas, in addition to its base of operations in Richmond, Virginia. It will also travel to provide workshops on-site at client locations globally.

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Will Tomorrow's Teens Know Facebook? 7 May 2015 9:23 AM (10 years ago)

Will tomorrow’s teens know Facebook?

I had an interesting conversation with my (nearly) 13 year old daughter in the car yesterday.

Her: My kids won’t know anything about Facebook.

Me (after choking at the idea of my daughter having kids): Maybe not, but why do you say that?

Her: It’s going to be so old by then.  It will be like MySpace is now.

I mention this conversation to illustrate how fast things move.  Did you know MySpace (or Myspace, or My____ … however they’re typing it nowadays) was founded in 2003?  That’s one year after my daughter was born.  That’s an eternity in the social media world, but it’s not much older than Facebook.  Mark Zuckerberg’s baby was founded only a year after that, and was opened to the general public in 2006.  The now-massive social media site has grown and changed with the times, to where it currently has nearly 1.4 billion registered users.

But, what’s next?

While many people believe Facebook is now too big to just go away, it’s important to note that while most of today’s teenagers have Facebook accounts, they really don’t use the site as much as you might assume at first glance.  In fact, the Washington Post announced last year that teens are officially “over” Facebook, and instead are flocking to Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.  The Post article cited a survey that said in a matter of six months, teen use of Facebook plummeted from 72-percent to 45-percent.

Why?

Because their parents are there.

When you’re a teenager, anywhere your parents can be found is monumentally uncool.

So … what’s next?  If you go on the assumption that today’s teens will be having their own children in 10-15 years, and those children will become active in social media … say … 13 years later, what on Earth will they be using?  Will social media even be a thing?

I’m not sure I can accurately predict what teens will be doing 20+ years down the road.  I’m not sure I can comprehend what they do now.  But, it might be informative to know what WE were using on our computers 20+ years ago.  In the years around 1990 to 1995, the online services AOL, Prodigy and Compuserve were king, and you could easily say social media (in the form of their chat rooms) was being born.  Clearly, things have changed a lot since then.

I do suspect the following will still be going on in 20 years:

• Privacy will still be an issue.  You simply cannot completely stop all teenagers from posting stupid things online.
• Cyberbullying will still be an issue.  See above.

To go back to the original question, however, will Facebook still be around?  My guess is that it probably will be in some form or another.  It simply IS too big to just go away.  Maybe it will be more like Periscope and Meercat, and will be used to stream events live rather than post pictures about them after the fact.  Maybe it will be a conglomerated news site where businesses and individuals post current events and comment on it, without leaving details about their personal lives like they do now.  There are too many possibilities to imagine them all.

Whatever is “next”, one thing I truly believe is that the downfall of Facebook won’t happen quickly or completely in 20 years.  Some people still do use MySpace, for example, and it hasn’t been relevant for years.  Blogger, author and social media commentator Shel Israel made a good prediction when he said, “At some point, there will be a social network better enough so that people will leave Facebook not in droves, but a little bit at a time…it’ll slowly get smaller, ad revenues will slowly go down, and the new one will figure out how to make money on mobile, which Facebook hasn’t yet done. It will happen sooner than most people think.”

Facebook Ad Dollars More Important Than Ever 23 Apr 2015 11:20 AM (10 years ago)

Ever since becoming a publicly traded company (and thus being more focused on the bottom line) Facebook has been pushing brands more and more toward what is now becoming inevitable — you have to spend at least a little advertising money to get your message to your audience on the social media giant.

Facebook announced today more changes to the formula it uses to create its news feed.  The news feed is the first thing you see when you log into the site, and includes a mix of updates from your friends, paid advertising, and content from pages and groups that you’ve “liked.”  Facebook announced today that going forward, it will include less of that last item and more of the first item.

What does this mean for your organization’s page on Facebook?  A lot.  You’ve surely noticed that when you post an item, only a small percentage of your “likers” actually see it.  Its visibility, of course, will increase if your audience is liking, commenting and sharing on that item, but it’s absolutely harder to cut through the clutter than it used to be, and now Facebook says it’s going to be harder.

In the end, the solution is to use targeted advertising dollars.  When you “boost” a post on Facebook, the site shows it to more people.  And, the good news is that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get more eyeballs.  There’s no need to boost every post on your page, either.  Boosting your best content will go a long way toward making sure you keep people interested.

Expect to Lose Some "Likes" Soon 6 Mar 2015 7:00 AM (10 years ago)

If you manage a Facebook Page and pay at least a little attention to how many “likes” you have, expect to see your numbers going down in the coming weeks.

Facebook announced that they’ll be doing an “audit” of the social media site, and removing “likes” that come from people whose accounts have been voluntarily deactivated or have been memorialized.  Here’s the reason, according to the Facebook blog post published yesterday:

There are two primary benefits to removing voluntarily deactivated and memorialized Facebook accounts from Pages’ like counts:

Business results: Removing inactive Facebook accounts from Page audience data gives businesses up-to-date insights on the people who actively follow their Page and makes it easier for businesses to find people like their followers through tools like lookalike audiences.

Consistency: We already filter out likes and comments generated by deactivated or memorialized accounts from individual Page posts, so this update keeps data consistent.

While no one wants to lose “likes” from their page, there’s actually solid logic behind this move.  Numbers that are boosted from people who are no longer active Facebook don’t help you in the least.  They’re merely vanity numbers.

Some have asked what percentage of a drop can be expected, but Facebook has not responded to those questions.

Facebook Page Changes Will Force Move to More Quality Content 18 Nov 2014 11:13 AM (10 years ago)

Social Media Managers for brands across the world are evaluating their strategies right now, as Facebook recently dropped a bomb that will change how some are doing business on the world’s largest social media site.

The move, which was posted on Facebook’s news blog, will cut some social media marketers off at the knees, and will force all of us who manage business Facebook pages to pause before posting.  In that blog post, we are told that Facebook will make sure fewer people see the following types of posts:

• Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app
• Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context
• Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads

Here’s what Facebook had to say about these types of posts going forward:

“Beginning in January 2015, people will see less of this type of content in their News Feeds. As we’ve said before, News Feed is already a competitive place – as more people and Pages are posting content, competition to appear in News Feed has increased. All of this means that Pages that post promotional creative should expect their organic distribution to fall significantly over time.”

In the end, what does this mean?  It means that if you’re inclined to push out these types of posts and want to continue doing so, you either need to start spending money advertising or change the type of content you post.  Facebook, by all accounts, will still be happy to allow promotional posts that are “boosted” through its advertising program.

The other thing you should consider is changing the way you use Facebook.  The most successful brands on the social media site use a mix of informational posts, engagement posts, and promotions like contests.  Of those three types of content, the only one that may run into the Facebook “censor” algorithm is contests, which should be promoted through Facebook advertising already.

If content was king before this announcement, it’s the ruler of the universe now.

EndGame PR has been creating quality social media, website and blog content for clients since 2006.  We understand that a content creation strategy can be time consuming and requires a specific skill set that not every business owner possesses.  If you’re concerned that these latest Facebook changes will mean your posts are invisible, contact us to discuss a new social media strategy.

EndGame PR Helps Launch New Behavior Analysis Website 17 Oct 2014 5:51 AM (11 years ago)

EndGame PR is happy to announce the completion and launch of an all new website for the Virginia Association for Behavior Analysis (VABA). The organization’s mission is to promote and support the practice, research and dissemination of behavior analysis throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. Until recently, however, its website was not up to snuff.

EndGame PR built a dynamic new home on the web for VABA, which includes a member’s only section, a membership management module, the ability to collect dues from members, a jobs page, a rotating banner on the front page, a news blog and a lot more. Click the image to the right to see a larger version of what the VABA front page looked like on launch day, and check out the full site here: Virginia Association for Behavior Analysis.

Foursquare Launches Swarm, and Kills the Fun of Checking In 22 May 2014 6:07 AM (11 years ago)

Foursquare and the all new Swarm

All good things must come to an end.  We’ve slowly seen Facebook become less fun, Twitter is too crowded to keep straight, and Google+ … well, it was never all that good to begin with.  The latest example of good things coming to an end is the changes that have come to Foursquare.

Foursquare was launched in 2009 as a way to tell your friends where you are.  Not only could you see where the best party or happening bar was located, you could also compete with your friends for points and mayorships.  For each check-in, you received a number of points.  For first time check-ins, you’d get more points, and there were bonuses for other things as well, such as checking into the same location on several consecutive days.  You could see in the app which of your friends had the most points for the week.  In addition, the person who had been to a location the most over the prior 60 days was “mayor”.  You could also earn special badges for certain undisclosed check-in tasks.  For example, you automatically get a badge if you check in on a boat.

I took great delight checking in when going somewhere new, or when on vacation.  I hold several mayorships at our favorite vacation destinations of Sunset Beach and The Homestead, for instance.

Well, all of that fun is gone now.

In the last couple of weeks, Foursquare has stripped its primary app so that it is now merely a local search app with a lot more locations than Yelp.  They also launched a secondary app for check-ins, called Swarm.  Swarm is supposed to carry forward some of the Foursquare check-in “game” but there are a lot of changes:

• There is no longer one mayor per location.  When you and your Foursquare friends both have checked into a location, the one who has checked in more is the mayor among your circle of friends.  What this means is that there can be multiple mayors of one location.  Everyone’s a winner!  While the new system is being rolled out, all mayorships are frozen.
• Badges are gone.   You’ll get to keep the badges you have, but they are being replaced by something else.  What that something else is has not been disclosed.
• Points are gone.
• Now you can earn stickers.  Yay!  You can use stickers to express how you’re feeling during a check-in.  Yippee.

Word is that the changes came for two reasons.  The first is that Foursquare is under pressure to monetize the service.  Turning the primary app into a pure local search app helps with that.  The second reason, Foursquare says, is that it got too big.  With 50,000,000 users, it was extraordinarily difficult to become mayor of some locations.  To me, that was the point of it.  If something is difficult, it feels that much better if you attain it.  I tell this to my kids all the time.

I’m still checking in on Swarm, but I’m not enjoying it nearly as much as I used to in the “old days”.  From the reviews I’ve seen, many Foursquare users feel the same as I do.  I will most likely continue to use Foursquare as a local search app.  I already did that when in an unfamiliar place if I wanted to find a restaurant.  And, I guess that’s exactly what Foursquare wants me to do.  But, really, I had a lot more fun doing it before.

Is News Release Distribution for SEO Dead? 26 Sep 2013 8:09 AM (12 years ago)

The days of pseudo-news releases that are purely SEO tools are dead and should be buried.

The public relations and SEO PR worlds are still reeling a bit after the big changes that came in Google’s latest algorithm update, dubbed Penguin 2.0.   Simply put, they have changed the role of the news release, or at least altered it once again.

For years, many (including myself) have advocated the use of news release distribution as a search engine optimization (SEO) tool.  The strategy was that by embedding links and sending releases out via distribution networks like PRWeb, Businesswire and OnlinePRMedia, you could increase the number of inbound links to your website and thus increase its search rankings.  A secondary, but also very important, benefit of this release distribution was discovery.  By having your release available in multiple locations, you increased the chance of someone finding it.

Penguin 2.0 has changed all of that.  There are two new and important rules from Google that relate to news release distribution:

• Press releases will be treated as a paid placement by Google.
• Optimized anchor text links in a press release distribution will be considered “unnatural” and will not pass PageRank in Google search results.

Essentially what this means is that those links in news releases won’t help you anymore.  In fact, they could hurt you.

So, does this kill news release distribution for SEO?  I don’t believe so.  However, it does change it and perhaps reduces its impact. I checked into what some of the distribution firms are doing.  A quick survey of Businesswire, OnlinePRMedia and PRLeap shows that they all made the change to give outbound links from their news releases a “no-follow” attribute.  This means that Google will ignore them, and thus not “ding” your website for having a paid or unnatural link.

What this change in Google also means is that quality content is even more critical. In an email discussion with Christine O’Kelly from OnlinePRMedia, she agreed:

“To win in search today is to have substance — not just a good SEO company. There are companies with substance that have seen a drop — but from what I’ve experienced, it’s because they aren’t doing a great job of conveying that substance, getting others to talk about them, and making a presence for themselves. That’s what a PR firm does — and press releases are one of the tools that PR firms use.”

A blog post from Fred Godlash and John Leung at Businesswire echos that sentiment:

For example, if the Associated Press picked up your press release and did a national story, you would not gain links simply from having your story on AP, but from the subsequent results of that story. The benefit happens when millions of readers discover your story and engage with your company or brand. They may choose to link to you or share that information on their social networks.

So, what do you do?  Should you stop paying for online distribution?  No .. you shouldn’t.  However, while content has been king for a while, it’s now the grand high emperor for life.  Well thought-out and well written and executed content that is interesting to your audience will be retweeted, posted on Facebook, and even posted on Google+ (if you do that sort of thing).  It will also be blogged about (like the Businesswire post I quoted above) and news organizations will write about it.  That’s how you gain links in the current Google environment.  Using online release distribution will increase the number of people who can potentially find your content, and thus is a tool you should consider using.

SleepBetter.org and Carpenter Co. Complete Historic Pillow-in-Space Launch 23 Sep 2013 7:15 AM (12 years ago)

(High Desert, NV) September 23, 2013 – History was made in the Nevada desert today, as five explorers completed a first-of-its kind launch into (near) space.  The explorers in this case were Pillow characters from SleepBetter.org, a sleep education website created by Carpenter Co.  The Pillows’ flight, part of the Pillow in Space program, was the culmination of an entire summer of exploring and teaching Americans about healthy sleep.

Starting at the beginning of the summer, visitors to SleepBetter.org and its Facebook page were given the opportunity to participate in the Postcards from Pillow program by adopting Pillow and bringing the cute, fluffy character with them everywhere.  These new Pillow Parents were encouraged to send postcards from their adventures and use their new fluffy friend as a reminder of healthy sleep habits.  Pillow visited all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and by the end of the summer, Pillow Parents sent in more than 400 postcards, all of which are viewable in the Postcards from Pillow Gallery.

“We created these cute little pillow characters and they were snapped up immediately by some of the fastest acting of our nearly 350,000 Facebook fans,” said Dan Schecter, Senior Vice President Consumer Products. “It’s been absolutely amazing and very gratifying that America has taken these little pillow guys to heart, given them life, taken them around the country and then competed to have theirs chosen to go into space.”

Four of SleepBetter’s Pillow Parents were presented the opportunity to send their friends on today’s exciting Pillow in Space flight due to their high level of participation in the Postcards from Pillow program.  The fifth spot on the Pillow in Space launch was filled through an essay competition.  The “Pillownauts” are named McStuffy O’Fluffigan , Pillow Featherbed, Phil O.T. Pillow, Pilwoah and Starlight Sweet Dreamsalot.

The Pillow in Space launch was conducted through a partnership with JP Aerospace, a crowd-funded volunteer space organization run by John Powell.  The Pillows assisted with the launch by caring for a payload of 2,000 miniature experiments that fit into ping-pong balls, called PongSats, which were designed by school children from across the United States.

Across the country and throughout the day there have been “watch parties” allowing school children to witness and cheer the launch of their science projects and the five pillownauts.

A replay of the launch program produced by SleepBetter and Carpenter Co. will be available at http://sleepbetter.org/pillow-in-space/.

About SleepBetter.org

Created by Carpenter Co., SleepBetter.org is dedicated to helping people sleep better. Designed as an online resource, the website creates a forum for visitors to define, discuss and discover solutions to fit their particular sleep needs. SleepBetter.org’s quest is to continually gather pertinent sleep information, then share this knowledge with the general public. The site also shares tips on the best sleep-related products, both in stores and online. SleepBetter.org has created the SleepBetter seal as a way to easily identify products recommended for their superior quality or scientifically based design. For more information, please visit www.SleepBetter.org.

About Carpenter Co.

Carpenter Co. is the largest manufacturer of comfort cushioning products in the world. The Richmond, Va.-based company manufactures a wide variety of polyurethane foam and polyester fiber products, all designed to make the world more comfortable. Born and built in the United States, Carpenter Co. has a 65-year history of designing the world’s most comfortable products and remains on the cutting edge of product development, creating innovative products that improve sleep and enhance active lifestyles. The Carpenter Co. Consumer Products Division offers a dynamic line of trusted products, including Isotonic®, ErgoFresh, Ambient and IsoCool by Isotonic® pillows, mattress pads and neck pillows as well as comfort technologies like Avena and Avela and new technologies like IsoFresh. For more information, visit www.carpenter.com.

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RVA Has a “Secret Millionaire” 12 Aug 2013 6:24 AM (12 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) – In both her business and philanthropic endeavors, Virginia’s Debbie Johnston has long worked to change lives.  Now, the entire country will learn about her, as the founder and CEO of Chesterfield-based Care Advantage, Incorporated will be featured on ABC’s hit TV show Secret Millionaire on Sunday, August 18.

Raised on a small farm in rural Virginia, Johnston’s parents scraped together $3,000 to send her to nursing school.  In her years as a registered nurse, she realized that there was something missing in patient care – help for the patient after they leave the hospital.  She founded Care Advantage in 1988 to fill that need.  Today, the company has 17 offices across the commonwealth, employs about 3,000 employees and services over 1,200 clients statewide.

In addition to helping people through her business, Johnston is well known for helping people throughout the community through her involvement in dozens of charities in the Richmond area.  It’s that philanthropic spirit that drove her to be a Secret Millionaire.  During each episode of the program, America’s most successful business people are followed for one week as they leave behind their lavish lifestyles, conceal their true identities, and go to live and volunteer in some of the most impoverished and dangerous neighborhoods in the country.

Johnston traveled during 2011 to Richmond, California for her Secret Millionaire experience.  The program was delayed multiple times and will be shown for the first time on August 18.  During her time in California, Debbie immersed herself in the “other” Richmond community and lived as an undercover volunteer until her big reveal.

For more information on the Secret Millionaire program, visit this link: http://abc.go.com/shows/secret-millionaire

Debbie Johnston is available for interviews before the premier of her episode of Secret Millionaire.  Additionally, she will be throwing a viewing party on Sunday evening for employees and friends, and members of the media are invited to that event.  To set up an advance interview or to attend the viewing party, call one of the contact numbers at the top of this release.

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5 Ways to Engage And Grow Your Facebook Audience 1 Aug 2013 7:48 AM (12 years ago)

If you manage a Facebook Page for your business or organization, you’ve surely noticed that not all of the people who “liked” your page see every update.  Even taking away the fact that not everyone is on Facebook on any given day when you post, the amount of people who have your update show up in their news feed can be as low as one percent of your total fan base or even less.  You can thank Facebook’s drive for more advertisers for that.  What can help boost that number, however, is engagement.  It’s a fact that if more people “like” or comment on a post today, more people will see it, and that engagement can even boost the number of people who see your next post.  Because of this, it’s crucial to select material to post that is designed for engagement.  Here are 5 ways to engage and grow your Facebook audience:

1) Contests and Giveaways

I decided to put the hardest to implement at the top of this list, but if you’re willing to do the work, it can really boost your engagement.  You’ll need to create some way for people to sign up and you’ll need to be careful about the legalities involved, but I’m sure you wouldn’t be shocked to hear that people love free stuff.

2) Special Days of the Week

Select a day of the week and make it a special day.  On the SleepBetter Facebook Page, which I manage for Carpenter Co., we have a couple of these.  On Monday’s, when there isn’t some special program going on, we do “Sleep Myth Monday”.  I post a statement about sleep, and invite people to guess whether it’s a myth or not.  The answer is posted at the end of the day.  Another example of this comes from The Homestead, which conducts Throwback Thursday (posting old pictures of the resort), Wedding Wednesday (information about wedding offerings at the resort, and Travel Tuesday (posting information about their resort as a destination).

3) “Like” If You Agree and “Comment” If You Disagree

You’ve probably seen these. You post a statement and ask people to click “like” if they agree and comment if they disagree.  You’d be surprised the results you can get.  Another version of this is to ask people to click “like” to recognize something, like a birthday or anniversary.  Example: Our founder, Bob Smith, is 97 years old today. Click “like” to wish him a happy birthday!

4) Post Funny Stuff, Particularly Animal Pictures

It may seem like pandering and it probably is, but people love it.  Making it relevant to your industry is key to keeping people from being annoyed and furthering your brand at the same time.  You can even make this a once per week thing and combine the strategy with a “special day of the week”.  On the SleepBetter Facebook Page, for instance, we have the “Friday Sleep Funny” where I post a cartoon or funny sleep picture.  Here’s an example that led to nearly 2,400 “likes”, nearly 3,000 “shares” and 60+ comments.

5) Advertise

If you can’t beat them … join them.  Facebook has lowered the number of people who see a Facebook Page post in order to push page owners into advertising.  Fortunately, advertising works and is reasonably cheap.  If you have a special program or offer that you’re starting, consider paying a little bit of money to “boost” the post, to see if it works for you.

And now, some pandering of my own: Please “like” the EndGame PR Facebook Page!

Why Do Facebook Ads Bother People? 28 May 2013 7:31 AM (12 years ago)

Why do people worry about Facebook advertising?

Currently, there are two types of Facebook ads.  One is a small ad that promotes a Facebook page or possibly a regular non-Facebook website.  These can be found on the right side of your news feed.  The second type of ad is a promoted post.  This appears in your actual feed and looks like a regular news feed item from one of your friends or “liked” pages, but is labeled as advertising.

Every time Facebook rolls out an update, people clamber to discuss whether advertising will become more “invasive” into the experience.   Every time Facebook shuffles things around or come up with new ideas, there is a huge outcry from people who would prefer it stays the same.  The biggest concern is that the ads become bigger or more distracting, but plenty of people complain loudly about them the way they are right now.

The question is … why?

We don’t pay for Facebook.  Even if we did, it might still have ads.  For hundreds of years people paid for the privilege of reading newspapers and magazines.  There are a lot of us who haven’t cracked one of those printed publications recently, but if you can get your hands on one, I urge you to flip to any page and look around.  Chances are you’ll find an advertisement, and it might even take up the whole page.

Yes … that’s right … we PAID for printed publications AND had to look at ads.

So, why does it bother people that a free social networking site that has to answer to shareholders is going to display ads, and they might not be small and easy to ignore?  Think about it and give me your opinions in comments below.

A Primer for Instagram: Social Media for Elementary Schoolers 22 Apr 2013 12:48 PM (12 years ago)

I went down the Instagram rabbit hole today.  I figured it was just time.  Previously, I’d learned enough about it to be able to speak semi-intelligently about it if needed.  However, I’d never felt the need to use it and its use never came up for a client.  I never like being a late adopter, so today I dug into it.

Instagram was launched in 2010 and was purchased by Facebook last spring.  The service currently claims 100-million active monthly users.  They lost quite a few users after an unfortunate decision to change their privacy policy late last year.

Using Instagram is pretty simple, really, particularly if you’re already a Facebook and/or Twitter user.  If you think about mobile Facebook with only pictures, you’ll get Instagram.  Take a picture, apply filters and frames to the picture if you choose, and then post it.  You follow people and hope they follow you, and you can comment on each other’s photos.  You can adjust your privacy settings so only your friends can see your pictures, or anyone can see them.  Like Twitter, you can apply hashtags to photos so they can be categorized.

The Pros

• Signup is easy. 
• Applying filters to semi-ordinary photos can, in some people’s opinion, make them look very cool.
• The service is integrated with Facebook and Twitter, which means in one fell swoop you can post a picture everywhere.
• There are definitely business applications.  You can show your customers what goes on behind-the-scenes, and introduce them to your employees.  Once you get a healthy following, you can ask your audience to pitch in with product pictures of their own.

The Cons

• Photography enthusiasts seem to absolutely HATE Instagram. Most newer smartphones have higher quality cameras, but Instagram stores pictures in a lower quality format. Additionally, the filters are seen as gimmicky at best.
• The same privacy issues that exist on Facebook are present on Instagram.
• A LOT of younger kids use it.  While searching for people to follow, I found no less than five of my 10-year-old’s friends on Instagram.  Not one of them is technically old enough to be using the app.

Regarding that last bullet above — it’s an interesting phenomena.  The age limit for all major social media outlets is 13.  Despite that, a surprising number of kids below that age are using Instagram.  The reason, I’m told, is that parents don’t want their kids on Facebook.  I’m the parent of two kids who are under 13, and neither of them are allowed to use any social media sites, but I’m not going to pretend to be a parenting expert so I’ll keep my opinions on that to myself.

Do you use Instagram for personal or business reasons?  Tell us why or why not in comments!

Who Are the Millennials? 18 Apr 2013 10:23 AM (12 years ago)

As a member of the Generation of X, I feel like I know a little bit about people my age.  The generation before us, the Baby Boomers, have been written about far too much, so everyone knows about them (and is probably sick of them).  However, who are the Millennials?  This generation, whose parents are mostly Baby Boomers, are hard to define.  However, given that they are now in their 20s up to around 30, we marketers can’t ignore them.  Yahoo News recently re-published a story that tried to define them, and in my view did a pretty good job.  Here’s how Yahoo describes the Millennials:

1. They’re natural entrepreneurs…
   
2. …But they aren’t acting on whatever entrepreneurial instincts they have
3. They’re spendthrifts…
4. …And they’re broke
5. They’re socialists
6. They’re narcissistic
7. They’re politically engaged
8. They’re less religious
9. They’re stressed out

You can check out the full article for more explanation of that list.  Obviously each of these doesn’t describe EVERY Millennial, but overall I’d say it’s fair, based on my observations.  I might add one more — They’re connected.  More than any other generation, this one is likely to be found with its eyes glued to a smartphone or tablet.

What do you think?  Let me know in comments.

Five Rules for Social Media Brand Management During a National Crisis 16 Apr 2013 11:00 AM (12 years ago)

Before I get too far into this topic, I want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of yesterday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon.  It was and is the definition of senseless violence.

It’s a very modern thing, and unfortunately it’s happened lately with increasing frequency — our entire nation mourning via social media.  The latest incident was the bombing at the Boston Marathon.  If you went on Facebook or Twitter yesterday afternoon, the vast majority of the posts you saw were expressing condolences or passing along details of what happened.

Unfortunately, what you also saw mixed with the heartfelt and personal messages of shock and grief were branded messages that had nothing at all to do with the horrifying events of the day.  The companies behind those messages either weren’t thinking when they posted them, or scheduled them hours or even days in advance and then walked away.

How bad and damaging these non sequitur posts are is up for debate.  Peter Shankman, one of the true gurus (although he may hate that word) of social media, is particularly bothered by them and thinks they’re significantly damaging to a brand when they happen.  He would most likely believe that this blog post is unnecessary as social media managers should know better by now.  But, obviously if it’s still happening then more education is needed.  That’s why I present my Five Rules for Social Media Brand Management During a National Crisis:

1. Pay attention. You can’t afford to go into a rabbit hole and not pay attention to the news. Knowing what’s going on in the world is part of the job of a social media manager.
2. It’s okay to be personal.  Posting a short and very concise message of sympathy for the victims is not only okay, it reminds your audience that your brand is made up of people.  Be very careful in the wording, however, and make it genuine. 
3. Shut down.  Remove all non-relevant scheduled Tweets and Facebook posts, and stow them away for another day.  Not only will no one pay attention to them, continuing with “business as usual” may actually harm your brand as your audience may see you as not caring.  The exception to this rule is if your company has a personal connection to the tragedy.  Obviously, posting (for example) that the team your firm put together to run in the race is safe and sound is different than a branded message.
4. Adhere to the 24-hour rule. Other than a short condolence message, it’s best to stay “dark” with branded messages on social media for at least a day after the incident breaks.  When you return to normalcy is a judgement call, but 24 hours should be the minimum.
5. Let common sense be your guide. An hour or two before the Newtown school shooting, I posted a silly picture for “Friday fun” on a client’s Facebook page.  An hour or two after the news broke, I was planning to post a weekly winner in a contest we were running.  When I heard about the shooting, I not only scrapped the contest winner post, I also deleted the silly picture, as it no longer seemed appropriate.  In the end, if it doesn’t feel right then delete it or don’t do it in the first place.

And, a bonus: Help.  If your business is in a position to give help to victims or families, obviously give it but don’t brag about it. That’s not social media savvy … it’s just being good people.

What do you think? Am I missing a rule that should be included?

Local And Regional Organizations Team Up To Offer Special Golf Opportunity For People With Disabilities 9 Apr 2013 11:47 AM (12 years ago)

(Richmond, Virginia) — Sheltering Arms is kicking off the 2013 golf season with an exciting program designed especially for people with physical disabilities. In partnership with the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Administration Hospital, the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Eastern Amputee Golf Association, Sheltering Arms is offering the nationally acclaimed ‘First Swing’ program for individuals right here in central Virginia.

Friday, April 26, 2013
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Windy Hill Sports Complex
16500 Midlothian Turnpike

Anthony Netto and the Paragolfer®

The one-day clinic will bring golf professionals, physical and recreational therapists, and people with physical disabilities together to teach, learn and play golf. Instructors Louis Namm, who lost his legs while serving in Vietnam, and Anthony Netto, who has been confined to a wheelchair for more than a decade, will spend the morning instructing golf and therapy professionals on the basics of teaching adapted golf techniques to people with disabilities. The professionals will then offer driving range clinics and on-the-course assistance for these individuals and their families in the afternoon.

In addition to this personalized instruction, attendees who use wheelchairs for mobility will have the opportunity to try the ParaGolfer®, a device that lifts people from a sitting to standing position in order to participate in a variety of sports. A special clinic for first-time ParaGolfer® users will be held on Thursday, April 25^th from 10:00-2:00.

“Programs like the ‘First Swing’ and ‘Learn to Golf’ clinics help us show people hands-on that they can enjoy their favorite recreation and leisure activities, even if illness or injury has limited mobility,” says Alison Clarke, Director of Community Recreation Services at Sheltering Arms. “There are so many adaptive tools and techniques, as well as technological advancements like the ParaGolfer®, that we can use to help people overcome their physical challenges and get back to doing the things they love.”

About Sheltering Arms
Sheltering Arms helps patients find the Power to Overcome the obstacles of illness and injury with a complete range of physical rehabilitation and wellness services.  To learn more about Sheltering Arms’ two hospitals and nine outpatient clinics visit http://www.ShelteringArms.com, call 1-877-56-REHAB, or connect with Sheltering Arms on Facebook. (www.facebook.com/shelteringarms) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/SheltArmsRehab).

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FightSMA Hails Reintroduction of National Pediatric Research Network Act (NPRNA) in the U.S. Senate 1 Mar 2013 6:53 AM (12 years ago)

(Alexandria, Virginia) — FightSMA, an international non-profit organization with a goal of finding a treatment or cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy, today thanked the sponsors and champions of the National Pediatric Research Network Act (NPRNA) of 2013 (S.424), who reintroduced the bill in the U.S. Senate last night. The move comes just weeks after a bipartisan companion bill (H.R.225) passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming margin.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is the leading genetic cause of infant death. FightSMA helped to develop the NPRNA in order to speed development of a cure for SMA and many other pediatric diseases.

“FightSMA and the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, two of the bill’s endorsing organizations, are tremendously grateful to the sponsors and supporters of the NPRNA in the Senate,” said Martha Slay, co-founder and past president of FightSMA. “This bill gives hope to thousands of families across the nation.”

The bill was reintroduced in the Senate on International Rare Disease Day. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) continue their leadership from the 112th Congress by once again serving as the bill’s lead sponsors. Joining them as original cosponsors will be Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Susan Collins (R-ME), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). The NPRNA will now be referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, where it is expected to be considered by committee members in the coming weeks.

“We’re calling for all SMA families and friends to do what they can to support this legislation,” said Slay. “Your work during the 112th Congress brought the legislation closer to the president’s desk than it has ever been, and a phone call, letter or email to your senators now can make all the difference. With your help, we can push the NPRNA over the finish line!”

About FightSMA
FightSMA, an international nonprofit group, was founded in 1991 to accelerate a treatment or cure for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the leading genetic cause of infant death. Since its formation, FightSMA has awarded research grants at more than 40 universities and research institutions in the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. For more information about FightSMA, visit http://www.fightsma.org.

SleepBetter.org and Rhett & Link Video Reaches Six Million Milestone YouTube 23 Jan 2013 6:56 AM (12 years ago)

Viral Blockbuster “2 Guys 600 Pillows” Continues to Grow Two Years After its Release

(Richmond, VA. Jan. 23, 2013) – Rhett & Link’s viral masterpiece, created for Carpenter Co.’s SleepBetter brand, has broken through yet another barrier.  Despite being released more than two years ago, the blockbuster online video “Two Guys 600 Pillows” is continuing to grow, and this week exceeded six million views on YouTube.

“Internetainers” Rhett & Link create some of the most popular videos on the web.  Their “2 Guys 600 Pillows” video illustrates the attachment that individuals can develop with their pillows and how difficult it can be to say goodbye to that favorite pillow when it’s gotten too old to use anymore.  The action and, amazingly, the singing in the video, were shot backwards and then reversed to create breakthrough special effects.  A separate video that shows how they created “2 Guys 600 Pillows” can be seen only at SleepBetter.org.

“Two Guys 600 Pillows” launched on YouTube on Sept. 14, 2010.  It immediately went viral, with more than two million views in the first two weeks.  The video was included in Time’s 2010 “Top 10 of Everything” and was awarded two Webby Awards.  The Webby is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet.

Recently, SleepBetter.org and Rhett & Link released their second joint video, “Spot the Differences”.  Illustrating what could be happening while you sleep, including monsters under your bed and visits by The Sandman and the Tooth Fairy, this video has a unique twist.  It’s the first live action split-screen spot the differences video, challenging viewers to find all of the discrepancies between the two screens.  Since its release on Nov. 13, 2012, it’s been viewed nearly 1.2 million times on YouTube.

“On the surface these videos are pure fun, but their messages get people thinking about sleep and bedding,” said Dan Schecter, senior vice president of consumer products at Carpenter Co. and creator of SleepBetter.org.  “Our goal is to lead a national conversation about the health benefits of a good night’s sleep and the role of high quality bedding in sleeping better.”

About Carpenter Co.
Carpenter Co. is the largest manufacturer of comfort cushioning products in the world.  The Richmond, Va.-based company manufactures a wide variety of polyurethane foam and polyester fiber products, all designed to make the world more comfortable.  Born and built in the United States, Carpenter Co. has a 64-year history of designing the world’s most comfortable products and remains on the cutting edge of product development, creating innovative products that improve sleep and enhance active life styles.  The Carpenter Co. Consumer Products Division offers a dynamic line of trusted products, including Isotonic®, ErgoFresh, Ambient and IsoCool by Isotonic® pillows, mattress pads and neck pillows as well as comfort technologies like Avena and Avela and new technologies like IsoFresh. For more information, visit www.carpenter.com.

About SleepBetter.org
Created by Carpenter Co., SleepBetter.org is dedicated to helping people sleep better. Designed as an online resource, the website creates a forum for visitors to define, discuss and discover solutions to fit their particular sleep needs. SleepBetter.org’s quest is to continually gather pertinent sleep information, then share this knowledge with the general public. The site also shares tips on the best sleep-related products, both in stores and online. SleepBetter.org has created the SleepBetter seal as a way to easily identify products recommended for their superior quality or scientifically based design. For more information, please visit www.SleepBetter.org.

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Sleep Information Website Says Earlier Black Friday Hours Actually Benefit Shoppers 20 Nov 2012 8:12 AM (12 years ago)

Every year it seems the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, otherwise known as Black Friday, comes earlier. It started with stores opening at ridiculously early hours on the Friday after Thanksgiving, trying to lure shoppers with low prices. Then, in the last few years, those same stores started opening at midnight on Friday. This year, the sales are starting so early that Black Friday won’t begin on Friday at all. Instead, the sales will start on Thursday, with a number of stores opening at eight or nine o’clock on Thanksgiving day. According to premier online sleep news and information website SleepBetter.org, this is a big benefit for sleep-deprived consumers.

Setting aside complaints that this frenzy of consumerism is invading a beloved holiday, as well as the labor unrest caused by the additional working hours, there is a silver lining for shoppers — they may not lose as much sleep if they want to participate in the big shopping frenzy.

Shoppers who head out to the stores at eight or nine o’clock in the evening and return around 10 or 11 p.m. can make up any lost sleep by staying in bed an extra hour or so the next day. That scenario is preferable in terms of health and safety (as shoppers drive drowsy on the way home) to shoppers getting up at three o’clock in the morning and shopping until 10 a.m.

Shoppers who DO feel the need to set the alarm for “oh dark thirty” in order to get a great deal on a flat panel TV (for instance), like many said they would in SleepBetter’s 2010 Thanksgiving shopping survey, should use these tips to try to minimize the impact of the lost sleep:

• It’s not necessary to lose sleep to get a good deal. Shopping online from home (and at a reasonable hour) can yield some great deals as well. Many online retailers are offering free shipping during the holiday season.
• Shoppers who MUST be up in the middle of the night should plan ahead. Sleeping a little extra for a couple of nights before the big event can help minimize the sleep debt accrued on Black Friday.
• Making time for a nap after shopping can help eliminate some of the sleep debt accrued on Black Friday. Waiting until late in the day for that nap can be counter-productive, however, as it can make sleep difficult that night.
• Caffeine is useful, but should be used wisely. Having a cup of coffee during the shopping frenzy or later in the morning (or both) isn’t a big deal. However, don’t drink it the late afternoon or evening, as it may make sleep difficult that night.

In short, SleepBetter doesn’t recommend giving up sleep for shopping, but those who do should try to make up the sleep debt as soon as possible. For more sleep news and advice, visit SleepBetter.org and use the search bar at the top of the site.

About SleepBetter.org
Created by Carpenter Co., SleepBetter.org is dedicated to helping people sleep better. Designed as an online resource, the website creates a forum for visitors to define, discuss and discover solutions to fit their particular sleep needs. SleepBetter.org’s quest is to continually gather pertinent sleep information, then share this knowledge with the general public. The site also shares tips on the best sleep-related products, both in stores and online. SleepBetter.org has created the SleepBetter seal as a way to easily identify products recommended for their superior quality or scientifically based design. For more information, please visit www.SleepBetter.org.

Sheltering Arms Celebrates 20 Years of Golfers Overcoming Disability to Continue Playing Their Favorite Sport 23 Oct 2012 6:53 AM (13 years ago)

(Richmond, VA) – Nearly every weekend, golf tournaments are held in the Richmond area.  For the most part, they’re very similar – participants are competing to have the best score, have fun, and perhaps win prizes.  A non-profit organization may also be involved.  The 20^th Annual Different Strokes Golf Extravaganza from Sheltering Arms has had all these features for two decades, plus one more very important one: participants who had to work hard for the ability to walk or use their limbs, let alone play golf.

The Different Strokes Golf Extravaganza, to be held at the nine-hole Lake Course at Windy Hill Golf and Sports Complex, has an usual requirement.  Each foursome participating in the tourney must include one golfer who is disabled.  The event highlights Sheltering Arms’ therapy programs, as well as the hard work demonstrated by individuals who just wanted to get back to playing their favorite sport.

Many of the disabled participants in the tournament are enrolled in an innovative program from Sheltering Arms that uses golf as a therapy sport. The Adaptive Golf Program works with individuals who are disabled due to injury or disease, teaching them the Power to Overcome their disabilities and start playing golf.  In some cases, they’re learning the game as beginners, and some cases they already know the game but need to learn how to overcome disability to start playing again.

“Golf is an outstanding therapy sport, as it gets people moving and focused on a goal,” said Sheltering Arms President Jim Sok.  “Not only does it promote increased flexibility, mobility in the joints, and higher metabolism … it’s a lot of fun.”

One of the many tools available to participants in the Adaptive Golf Program is the Paragolfer, a unique mobility aid that not only gives disabled golfers an easy way to get around the course, but also brings them to a standing position to strike the ball.  At least two Paragolfer units will be available for use by golfers during the golf tournament.  The units are owned by Windy Hill and can be used by golfers who have been fully trained in their operation.

The Different Strokes Golf Extravaganza will be held on Saturday, October 27, with registration at 12:00 noon and a shotgun start at 1:30 p.m.  The fee for an individual is $45.  Each participant will receive lunch before the tournament and a desert reception afterward.  For more information, contact Valerie Newman at (804) 764-5275.

About Sheltering Arms
Sheltering Arms helps patients find the Power to Overcome the obstacles of illness and injury with a complete range of physical rehabilitation and wellness services.  To learn more about Sheltering Arms’ two hospitals and nine outpatient clinics visit http://www.ShelteringArms.com, call 1-877-56-REHAB, or connect with Sheltering Arms on Facebook or Twitter.

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SleepBetter.org: Sleeping Better Can Make Cold and Flu Season Much Easier 11 Oct 2012 12:18 PM (13 years ago)

SleepBetter.org: Sleeping Better Can Make Cold and Flu Season Much Easier

As we move further into fall, we’re all seeing more signs offering flu shots.  While these shots are a great idea and can protect you from the misery of influenza, there’s something simpler (and free) that can add to their effectiveness: sleep.

With cold and flu season around the corner, making sure you get a good night’s sleep every night (as you should all year `round) is one of the best moves you can make to help yourself stay healthy.

For years, scientists have worked to try to understand how sleep improves the immune system or, on the flip side, lack of sleep compromises it.  Non-scientists, however, only need to know that to decrease our chances of getting sick, we should stay well rested.  For those who need more proof, however, here is some research into the matter:

• A recent study at the University of California found that lack of sleep can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.  In their study, which looked at the Hepatitis B vaccine, participants who slept fewer than six hours on average per night were far less likely to mount antibody responses to the vaccine and thus were far more likely (11.5 times) to be unprotected by the vaccine than people who slept more than seven hours on average.  While the study did not focus on the flu shot, it’s something to consider if you want to be as fully protected as possible.

• A 2009 Carnegie Mellon University study of 153 men and women showed that those who slept fewer than seven hours on average per night were about three times more likely to develop a cold than those with at least eight hours of sleep daily.

• The same study in 2009 found that those who spent 92% of their time in bed asleep were five and a half times more likely to develop a common cold than those who spent 98% or more of their time in bed sleeping.  In short, quality time in bed matters more than quantity.

While we’d all love more time off to can lay in bed guilt-free, being sick isn’t much fun — just one more reason to take a good look at how you’re sleeping, and how you can improve your nightly rest.

About Carpenter Co. / SleepBetter.org
SleepBetter.org is dedicated to helping people sleep better. Designed as an online resource, the web site creates a forum for visitors to define, discuss, and discover solutions to their particular sleep needs. SleepBetter.org’s quest is to continually gather pertinent sleep information, then share this knowledge with the general public. The site also shares tips on the best sleep related products, both in stores and online. SleepBetter.org has created the Sleep Better seal as a way to easily identify products recommended for their superior quality or scientifically based design. Created by Carpenter Co., the world’s largest producer of comfort cushioning products, SleepBetter.org provides information and advice that visitors can use to sleep better. For more information, please visit http://SleepBetter.org.

Facebook Gravy Train Nearing the End of the Line 9 Oct 2012 12:44 PM (13 years ago)

For years, businesses have set up shop on Facebook for free, gaining unfettered access to its hoards (one billion probably qualifies as many hoards) of users.

Those days are over.

Since going public and watching the company’s stock prices go far below what was expected, those who rule at Facebook have made it harder and harder for businesses to successfully reach their audience on the social media platform without paying for it.

It used to be that you’d start a page, gather fans (now “likes”), and when you posted something on the page, your fans would see the post if they were online around the time you posted it.

Later, Facebook decided IT knows best what people want to see on their own news feeds.  After that change, when your fans logged in and went to their news feeds, they MIGHT see what you posted.  This potentially reduced the reach the posts on your pages would have, but in the end it was still a system that worked well enough and could be optionally supplemented with paid Facebook advertising.

Recently, Facebook made changes to the algorithm, called “EdgeRank”, that it uses to decide what posts are shown on your fans’ news feeds.  These changes may have gone too far for some page owners.  The algorithm takes a number of factors into account to decide who sees your posts.  The recent EdgeRank change, which supposedly happened on September 20 but has been said to have started as early as the end of August, was reportedly made to “de-clutter” news feeds.  What it really did was make room for more sponsored posts.  After this “de-cluttering” change happened, page owners found that the reach of their posts was cut anywhere from 40 to 70-percent.

With this change and the addition of sponsored posts, Facebook is essentially saying that we have to pay to reach a higher percentage of people who opted in to receive our information by clicking “like”.  In fact, we have to pay to reach the percentage that we reached this summer!

So, what’s a business owner to do?  Here are some options:

1. Pay the piper: Fortunately, Facebook advertising is not terribly expensive, and can be worked into the budget of all but the smallest businesses.  Either use paid banner ads to boost your number of “likes” or use the money to purchase sponsored posts for your most important information.
2. Squeeze out what you can: Take a look at what you’re posting, when you’re posting it, and who is being targeted.  Make sure you’re posting interesting materials with as many bright pictures and/or videos.  Also, look at your Facebook Insights to ensure that you’re posting at the best time of day.  Finally, use Facebook’s targeting tools to target your key audiences with the right posts.  The more that individuals interact with your page, the higher the chance will be that they’ll see your posts in the future.  In the end, you’ll still have to get used to the idea that your reach numbers are going to be lower than they used to be.
3. Look for alternatives: Perhaps Facebook isn’t your cup of tea anymore.  It’s not sensible to completely abandon it, since it’s by far the largest social media outlet, but maybe for your business it would be a good idea to expend some energy on Pinterest, Twitter, or even LinkedIn.

What it comes down to is that going forward a successful Facebook campaign will almost be required to include an advertising budget in addition to the man hours it takes to manage it.

FDA Week: Pediatric Rare Disease Group Works To Advance Clinical Research Bill 24 Aug 2012 7:50 AM (13 years ago)

FDA Week: Pediatric Rare Disease Group Works To Advance Clinical Research Bill

The following article about the National Pediatric Research Network Act (NPRN) was posted in this week’s edition of the Washington newsletter FDA Week:

Bipartisan legislation aimed at expanding the National Institutes of Health’s investments in pediatric research through the creation of pediatric research consortia could work with newly enacted provisions in the FDA Safety and Innovation Act aimed at accelerating drug approvals, according to an advocacy group spearheading the effort. FightSMA, the group backing the legislation, is pushing for the House Energy and Commerce Committee to take up the bill when it returns from August recess.

The National Pediatric Research Network Act, introduced by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Lois Capps (D-CA), directs NIH to establish a National Pediatric Research Network consisting of up to 20 pediatric research consortia over a five year period that would be eligible for awards, including grants, for basic, clinical, behavioral or translational research to meet unmet pediatric population needs, including rare diseases.

The legislation is aimed at improving clinical trials to quickly move promising drugs to approval, said Steven Eichenauer, a partner at Public Strategies Washington, who is working with FightSMA to pass the legislation.

Eichenauer added the bill would bolster research that could utilize the recently expanded accelerated approval pathway, a provision in FDASIA. He said the National Pediatric Research Network Act would help put drugs in the pipeline that can then be sent to FDA for approval, providing “a supply of newly minted therapies that have shown promise in clinical trials and are now before FDA.”

The bill would ensure these consortia focus on conducting or coordinating multisite clinical trials for pediatric rare diseases, and would establish a data coordinating center to distribute the findings, including to FDA. The consortia would be modeled after the National Cancer Institute centers and would ensure funds are dedicated exclusively towards basic and translational pediatric research and would enable inter-institutional networking, according to FightSMA. The group works to accelerate the search for a treatment and cure for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the leading inherited cause of infant death, according to the group.

Martha Slay, co-founder of FightSMA, said the group decided to take a broader approach with the currently introduced legislation than it has in past efforts, which focused specifically on spinal muscular atrophy.

“I consider this a really historic moment for SMA and other pediatric rare diseases, going from obscurity to a place where something significant and material could be done to make clinical trials available to children who desperately need it,” she said.

Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Gregg Harper (R-MS) and Peter King (R-NY) are cosponsors and a companion bill in the Senate was introduced by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), and is co-sponsored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), John Kerry (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Mark Begich (D-AK).

Eichenauer said the group is pressing for consideration of the bill by the House Energy and Commerce Committee when lawmakers return to Washington in September as several sponsors sit on the panel. He said committee staff have been involved in writing the legislation and it has been vetted by the committee. “The committee knows the bill well,” he said. Further, FightSMA said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is a longtime supporter of their cause.

Eichenauer said the group hopes the House could approve the legislation on the suspension calendar and then the bill could come before the Senate. Some cosponsors of the bill also sit on the Senate health committee, which FightSMA has also been working with on the legislation. Eichenauer added the group doesn’t know if the bill will move on its own or will be attached to a bigger package. Sources have said moving any legislation before the elections could be difficult.

Eichenauer said sponsors of the measure are exploring the possibility of a score from the Congressional Budget Office, but said it would not affect FightSMA’s ability to move forward with the bill. The legislation could also face difficulty with the looming “fiscal cliff.”

“There is no question that federal funding is going to be a challenge now and in the coming fiscal year,” Eichenauer said. “One of the chief advantages (of the bill), is that it does use federal dollars in a more highly-leveraged way. It takes infrastructure that is already there and expands it to leverage those dollars smartly.”

FightSMA is working over the recess to gather support in Congress and among other groups, with the Coalition for Pediatric Research, the National Down Syndrome Society and the Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy endorsing the bill. Eichenauer said sponsors have discussed reaching out to other groups, including the National Organization for Rare Disorders. — Nanci Bompey

FightSMA Announces Introduction in the House of Rep. of the National Pediatric Research Network Act (NPRNA) 20 Jul 2012 11:32 AM (13 years ago)

FightSMA Announces Introduction in the House of Representatives of the National Pediatric Research Network Act (NPRNA)

(ALEXANDRIA, VA. July 20, 2012) — A bill to authorize the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support the creation of up to 20 pediatric research consortia focused on diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) was introduced yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bipartisan bill, called the National Pediatric Research Network Act (NPRNA) is being introduced by Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Lois Capps (D-CA). It is designed in part to help achieve the goal of securing additional federal resources to accelerate clinical trials for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

“We are thrilled about this bill which is the result of the dedication of so many in the SMA community,” said Martha Slay, founder and immediate past president of FightSMA. “Legislation to benefit SMA is at the heart of the FightSMA mission.”

“Over the past year, FightSMA has worked with our champions in the Congress, Representatives McMorris Rodgers and Lois Capps, on this important legislation. With the support of longtime FightSMA ally House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), these two key members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health have collaborated to craft bipartisan legislation that will advance translational research and clinical trials for a variety of rare pediatric disorders, with SMA serving as a model disease,” said Ms. Slay.

“I am proud to join Rep. Capps in introducing the very important National Pediatric Research Network Act.  She has been an instrumental leader in the fight to promote pediatric research for genetic disorders, especially spinal muscular atrophy and Down syndrome,” said Rep. McMorris Rodgers.  “As the mother of a son with Down syndrome, I am confident this legislation will go a long way to improving the lives of those with genetic disorders.  I look forward to working in a bipartisan way to make sure this bill is signed into law.”

“I am proud to co-author this legislation with my friend  (Rep.) Cathy McMorris Rodgers, which would go a long way to increasing and improving research on children’s illnesses–especially rare and complex diseases–and developing new treatments to fight them,” said Congresswoman Capps. “Every parent’s worst fear is that their child becomes sick, and we owe it to all parents to do what we can to fight childhood illnesses.  I would also like to thank my constituents, Bill and Victoria Strong, for their tireless work on behalf of their daughter, Gwendolyn, and all children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and other rare diseases. Their dedication to fighting this terrible disease has been an inspiration for me and a driving force behind this bill,” said Congresswoman Capps.

Expanding on a previous pediatric research measure by Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO), the bill calls for an appropriate number of new consortia to focus primarily on rare diseases, and specifically mentions SMA among the diseases that should be included.  The bill directs NIH to support consortia that conduct multisite clinical trials of therapies for pediatric rare diseases.

“FightSMA and our congressional sponsors have collaborated directly with senior health staff on the House Energy and Commerce Committee in drafting this legislation,” said Mike Calise, Chair of the FightSMA Board of Directors, “and we will continue to work with them to ensure that the committee considers the bill in a timely manner.”

The process of building bipartisan support for a companion bill in the Senate has begun, working with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). FightSMA’s objective is to have a bill introduced in the Senate as early as possible. “We will continue to push aggressively for enactment of this important legislation in 2012,” said Calise.

About FightSMA
FightSMA, an international nonprofit group, was founded in 1991 to accelerate a treatment or cure for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the leading genetic cause of infant death. Since its formation, FightSMA has awarded research grants at more than 40 universities and research institutions in the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy.

For more information, visit:  www.fightsma.org or contact Danielle Chan at 703.647.5032

New Rules to Impact How Virginia Businesses Pay Taxes 20 Jun 2012 6:59 AM (13 years ago)

New Rules to Impact How Virginia Businesses Pay Taxes

(Richmond, Virginia) – In a move that’s sure to surprise at least a few Virginia retailers, the state government  announced recently that it will only accept electronic payments of sales tax.  The new policy, which was passed as part of the Commonwealth’s new budget, goes into effect in July.  VRMA is advocating on behalf of retailers to ensure a smooth transition to electronic-only filing and making sure that no retailer is penalized if they are unable to comply on time.

“This is a new policy that a lot of our retailers are likely unaware of, and it’s a policy that some of them may find difficult to follow at first,” said Virginia Retail Merchants Association Director of Government Affairs Jodi Roth.  “In some rural areas, it’s still impossible to get a reliable Internet connection.”

Business owners are being informed about the requirement via a mailing from the Virginia Department of Taxation.  Businesses should receive the brochure in the next two weeks.

Retailers who pay sales taxes on a monthly basis are required to file and pay electronically beginning with the July 2012 return, which is due August 20, 2012.  Retailers who file on a quarterly basis will be required to file and pay electronically beginning with the July–September 2013 return, due October 20, 2013.  To be considered an “on time” payment, returns must be submitted on or before the due date.  Pre-printed sales tax return coupons will no longer be mailed to business owners.

Fortunately, business owners who are unable to comply with the new filing policies before their next payment is due can file for a temporary waiver.  Instructions on how to file electronically or request a waiver are included in the mailer being sent by the tax department.  For more information, retailers can contact the Virginia Department of Taxation at (804) 367-8037 or go to http://tax.virginia.gov.

About VRMA
The Virginia Retail Merchants Association was established in 1905.  VRMA is a not-for-profit trade association representing retailers to educate, inform, and serve as a resource. VRMA and its member associations represent more than 5,400 retailers and other associated businesses throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.  For more information, please visit www.virginiaretail.org.

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New Professional Organizing Company In Mechanicsville, Virginia Spreads Its Wings 15 May 2012 8:08 AM (13 years ago)

New Professional Organizing Company In Mechanicsville, VA Spreads Its Wings

(Mechanicsville, VA) – Before you throw your hands up in the air in frustration because you can’t find your keys, or are overwhelmed by clutter in your home or office, think about giving Neatest Nest, a Professional Organizing company in Mechanicsville, Virginia (near Richmond), a call. Neatest Nest will help organize your life and share ideas and tips to keep your home or small business office in order.

With 15 years of organizing experience for various employers, family and friends, Becky Santelli decided to start Neatest Nest. Neatest Nest’s goal is to save you time and money so you can work and live more effectively and efficiently. Availability, personal touches and honesty make her services unique.

“I’m so excited to spread my wings in this new business venture,” said Santelli. “My goal is to help clients find a nest for everything and inspire them to keep everything neatly in their nest!”

Neatest Nest focuses on organizing attics, basements, closets, garages, kitchens, home or small business offices, and senior downsizing. Becky Santelli is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and the NAPO Richmond Chapter. More information about Neatest Nest is available online at www.neatestnest.com.

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New EndGame PR Client Can Teach the World About IT 11 May 2012 8:19 AM (13 years ago)

I’m completely thrilled to announce that EndGame PR is now working with Unisys!  Unisys is a company that for 135 years has been providing technology to make life and business easier.  We’ll be producing a series of podcasts featuring executives from the company talking about the unique insights the company can give on IT solutions and supporting a global workforce.  With 29,000 employees worldwide, Unisys has a lot to share with IT decision makers, and we can’t wait to help them share it!

New Client Website: A Nest is Born 10 May 2012 2:46 PM (13 years ago)

We’re finishing work on an all new client website this week, and it’s one of our favorites because of the design and the client! Neatest Nest is a brand new professional organizing business that is being started by a very good friend of mine, Becky Santelli. My family has known hers for about 10 years, and I can’t think of a better person to come into your “nest” and get it in order!

Becky wanted a clean design that reflected her business of organizing. Her new website uses light colors, clean lines, and judicious use of shadow effects to give it a 3d look in some spots. Use the link below to check it out, and if your nest needs to be neatened, be sure to give her a call!

Click here to visit Neatest Nest Professional Organizing Service, based in Mechanicsville (near Richmond), Virginia.

Sleep Tips Website Advises Giving Sleep to Mom for Mother's Day 9 May 2012 9:18 AM (13 years ago)

Sleep Tips Website Advises Giving Sleep to Mom for Mother’s Day

As Mother’s Day gifts go, candy and flowers are fine, but a leading sleep tips website suggests that mom would really appreciate the chance to recharge her natural batteries more regularly.

“Whether it’s related to work, home or school, today’s moms are being pulled in multiple directions, and the tepid economy is only adding to the stress,” says Dan Schecter, senior vice president of Consumer Products at Carpenter Co. and creator of SleepBetter.org. “Motherhood has never been easy, but these days getting proper rest is a bigger challenge than ever for moms.”

Sleep deprivation is common with mothers, especially those with smaller children, and inadequate rest patterns can result in much more than daytime drowsiness. Moodiness, irritability, memory lapses and even weight gain can result from lack of rest, so it’s not a reach to say that getting good sleep is an important part of a healthy diet.

SleepBetter.org offers some tips for families to help mom get the rest she needs:

• Let mom grab a nap when things are quiet around the house (such as when baby is napping)
• Encourage mom to make a “to do” list rather than plunging into stimulating activities when the kids go to sleep
• Just as mom strives to help the kids unwind before bedtime, family members should remember she needs time to relax at the end of the day, too
• Make sure mom’s sleeping environment promotes the best quality rest: quiet, cool, dark, with comfortable and supportive pillows and mattress
• Remember, the bedroom should be for sleep and romance, not for paying bills or eating…except, of course, for breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day!

For more tips to make the most of your family’s sleep, please visit http://sleepbetter.org. You can also get sleep advice from SleepBetter on Twitter and Facebook.

About Carpenter Co. / SleepBetter.org
SleepBetter.org is dedicated to helping people sleep better. Designed as an online resource, the web site creates a forum for visitors to define, discuss, and discover solutions to their particular sleep needs. SleepBetter.org’s quest is to continually gather pertinent sleep information, then share this knowledge with the general public. The site also shares tips on the best sleep related products, both in stores and online. SleepBetter.org has created the Sleep Better seal as a way to easily identify products recommended for their superior quality or scientifically based design. Created by Carpenter Co., the world’s largest producer of comfort cushioning products, SleepBetter.org provides information and advice that visitors can use to sleep better. For more information, please visit http://SleepBetter.org.

Sheltering Arms Holds Clinics to Teach Golf to the Physically Challenged 9 May 2012 9:12 AM (13 years ago)

Sheltering Arms Holds Clinics to Teach Golf to the Physically Challenged

(Richmond, Virginia) – The Adaptive Golf Program from Sheltering Arms, Central Virginia’s premier physical therapy rehabilitation provider, has a goal of educating members of the community, golf professionals, and individuals with disabilities to pursue golf as a lifelong leisure activity.  If you want to know whether it works, look no further for proof than Sid Cook.

Mr. Sid Cook utilizing the ParaGolfer

Mr. Cook attended one of Sheltering Arms’ golf clinics at Windy Hill Sports Complex.  He had to give up golf years ago because of limitations caused by his multiple sclerosis.  At the clinic, Sid was introduced to trained golf volunteers and the innovative ParaGolfer device.  The ParaGolfer allows disabled individuals to not only stand and hit a golf ball, but also ride around the course and play a full round including putting on the greens.  Within 15 minutes of practicing with the ParaGolfer, Sid was able to hit a golf ball 150 yards.  Sid’s wife said the experience has changed Sid’s life.  He is currently working toward becoming certified on the ParaGolfer, which will mean he’ll be able to use it unsupervised.

Sheltering Arms partners with two area golf facilities, Windy Hill Sports Complex and Birkdale Golf Club, to provide access to the ParaGolfer to area residents.  Each of the two golf courses has a ParaGolfer.

Sheltering Arms is holding a series of clinics this spring, summer and fall that are like the one that Sid Cook attended.  The clinics, all held at Windy Hill Sports Complex, are offered for $10 per session.  Participants will be given training with adaptive golf equipment and modifications, as well as training on the ParaGolfer if the participant requires it to play.  Assistance will be given by volunteers and Windy Hill’s Golf Professional, Janet Phillips.  More information is available by downloading this brochure.  Participants in Sheltering Arms’ Adaptive Golf Program can also take advantage of a number of upcoming free play dates at Brandermill Country Club.

Members of the public wishing to take advantage of the upcoming clinics or free play dates should contact Valerie Newman at 804-764-5275 or vnewman@shelteringarms.com.

About Sheltering Arms
Sheltering Arms helps patients find the Power to Overcome the obstacles of illness and injury with a complete range of physical rehabilitation and wellness services.  To learn more about Sheltering Arms’ two hospitals and nine outpatient clinics visit http://www.ShelteringArms.com, call 1-877-56-REHAB, or connect with Sheltering Arms on Facebook. (www.facebook.com/shelteringarms) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/SheltArmsRehab).