'Twas the Night to Talk PR

I think it's a prerequisite to a career in journalism or communications that you attempt a parody of The Night Before Christmas, at least once. Fortunately for all you readers, this is not my year. BUT I am happy to share the link to a slightly bawdy PR version penned by Greg Brooks, a pal of the Bad Pitch Blog.

My favorite line:
Releases were sent to BizWire with great care
In hope that a journalist might be aware

Since Santa has already granted my most important professional wish this season, I have already started on my professional New Years resolution. (I'm not doing too well on my personal resolution yet. Those cafeteria paninis are too tempting!)

Anyway, this year I resolve to contact the media weekly with a quick, not-to-deep pitch. By not-too-deep, I mean something that doesn't require weeks of planning, discussion, strategizing and approval by top management (this used to be everything in previous roles I've had). For example, I pitched local TV this morning on the importance of using the holidays to gather your family medical history--and got our high-risk breast cancer page mentioned on air and linked on the station's Web site, and you can bet I'm going to measure Web traffic.

Obviously, I'll still work on strategic projects that require lots of planning, but I have to think that some of these quick hits will be just as beneficial.

So consider me born-again in my pursuit of media relations and measurement, just like Baby New Year. And speaking of Baby New Year, my hospital is going to win this year--if I have to grab some forceps at 12:01 myself.

Merry Christmas to all,
And to all, a good night.