Ok you procrastinators, I know you’re out there. It is now December 22nd. You have exactly 3 days before Christmas Day or if you celebrate with family like I do on Christmas Eve, you are down to only two! Yikes…it is time to brave the masses and SHOP!

Don’t panic, I am here to help. Working at an advertising and public relations agency we have a lot of retail clients that are perfect for getting the inside scoop. I compiled a few helpful tips to make your last minute shopping experience a little less painful:

Stop by Hazard Center  in Mission Valley: all you need, all in one stop. Have a book lover in the family? Check out Barnes and Noble where you can find a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books. Can’t decide what to get your boss? Pick up a Starbucks gift card for him and an Eggnog latte for yourself. (My personal Favorite).

 Tiffany & Co. San Diego in Fashion Valley is doing something they have never done before. I think it is pretty cool too! They are offering “boxed, bowed and ready to go” gift options to make your last minute holiday shopping a snap. Just think of the look on that special someone’s face when they see a gift under the Christmas tree wrapped in that timeless Tiffany blue box.

Tiffany & Co. not your style? Try heading on down to Seaport Village for a little shopping along the waterfront. Can’t find a sitter for the kids? No Problem, Seaport Village offers lots of stuff for the entire family. Free entertainment, street performers, waterfront dining, and don’t forget to take a spin on the 1895 Loof Carousel. With over 50 shops to choose from, you’re sure to find something for everyone in the family. Even your old Aunt Edna who is hard to please. Have a teenage girl in the family? Check out Urban Girl Accessories to find tons of things to choose from for that perfect gift.  Still not convinced? Seaport Village is OPEN Christmas Day from 10am-6pm and is offering free all day parking! What’s better than that?

So, you are done shopping and now you have a ton of gifts to wrap. What now? Try Holiday gift bags. All you need is a the gift bag, some tissue paper and you are done. No wrapping, no tape, no scissors and no gift tags. Fast, easy and efficient.

There you have it. A few helpful tips to get you through your mad dash of last minute holiday shopping. I hope you find everything you are looking for!

Our public relations team uses Vocus to help us research editorial contacts across many mediums. The database is helpful because it tells us when editors leave, what their beats are, how often a publication publishes and more. It’s a common tool for many public relations agencies. But it can also be a crutch for those practitioners not daring enough to do what we know is right.

It’s that darn “preferred pitching method” section in Vocus that can get into an unsuspecting practitioner’s head and make him passive in his outreach. Because undoubtedly it will say e-mail. But email does not make the world go round.

As much as I like to deny that I am in sales, I am. Public relations is selling story ideas to journalists.

I talk about this often with my husband–who is in sales. If he only emailed prospects, he’d rarely turn outreach into new clients. Instead he picks up the phone and calls people. He’ll stop by their business to make a personal connection.

He tells me: “Imagine how many sales queries each business owner gets in a day? Even with a strong subject line (no joke, his favorite is “pick me, pick me”), it’s likely most of my emails go to trash or get deleted. Being strong enough to pick up the phone and call or stop in and say ‘hi’ is what sets me apart from hundreds of other salesmen trying to earn a buck.”

And that’s what many public relations executives forget.

Building relationships is key and nothing can beat in-person meetings and networking events. And face-to-face, over the phone or email pitches do nothing if you don’t know how to do effective public relations. But in regular day-to-day pitching, picking up the phone to call can accomplish more in one call than 100 emails.

The truth is, while on the phone we may only get 10 to 15 seconds of an editor’s time to win their ink. The ability to make that happen is what can set a good PR executive apart from a superior one.

It’s getting very tiring to pretend here in San Diego; the fake snow, the scarves and sweaters making us sweat, Christmas trees from dirt lots and Target Garden Centers. It’s time to stop pretending and embrace San Diego’s true holiday spirit.

So while we don our flip flops, tanks and T’s, so will Seaport Village’s Santa Clause, because you know, nobody likes rockin’ all that red fur in 70 degree weather. Even Santa needs a break. He’ll make his arrival to Seaport Village this Sunday, 12/14 by sailboat on the San Diego Harbor. Then he’ll pose in his board shorts on his giant surfboard and wave for free pictures with the kiddies from 12 - 4 p.m.

So if you’re from out of town, or you’re a local and want to rub it in to the out-of-towners, grab a free picture this Sunday then go online to http://blog.seaportvillage.com to send it to your cold family out in the Northeast. They’ll reek of jealousy!

Either you’re already following the Bailey Gardiner troops on Twitter, or you’re tired of hearing about it. Chances are if you know what it is and you’re tired of it, you’re not on it. So to simplify the trial and error process, here are a few steps to get you started. I promise it will take no more than 10 minutes. Need some convincing? Here’s 12 reasons to join Twitter.

1. Go to http://www.twitter.com. Enter your chosen user name, and I recommend making it something easily recognizable. So, if for example your name is Jon Bailey, I’d recommend using the name “JonBailey.”

2. Let twitter search your contacts to start you out with some familiar faces to follow. Spare your friends and skip the invite to those in your address book who aren’t already on Twitter. It’s like AA, they’ll get there when they’re ready.

3. Now you have an official account and it asks you, “What are you doing?” Don’t answer that. Nobody cares what you’re doing. Give us something good, like a helpful link, a comedic realization, a timely piece of news.

4. Write something! First note that your name is no longer “jonbailey”. It’s now, “@jonbailey” and I’m “@lizzied.” So if you want to say something to someone in particular, you write just that, “Hey @lizzied, nice blog post - look I’m on twitter!” Remember, you only have 140 characters per post.

5. Follow and be followed. What does it all mean? The great thing about twitter is that you don’t get littered with info you don’t want. You pick who you want to receive info from (follow) and others choose to follow you. So everything you post is visible to only those who follow you and those who search you. Use the search tool to find people talking about your interests. Find people in your industry and look at who they’re following and who is following them - go ahead and snag a few of them for your own. If you want to be followed, just write some interesting things and consider your key words if you want people with common interests to find you. Chances are once you follow someone, they’ll return the favor.

6. Try a direct message. Being that anyone can find you and read what you’re posting on the World Wide Web, if you want to say something private, follow this format, “d jonbailey Don’t tell jamieortiz that I put all her office supplies in jell-o molds.” Because of the “d” no one but @jonbailey will get that message.

7. If you’re unlike me and you sometimes leave your computer, consider clicking the “settings” tab, followed by the “devices” tab to set your twitter account to your phone. You’ll only receive direct messages to your phone, but you’ll be able to twitter your messages through text message.

8. And my best tip of advice for getting started: Go to http://www.twhirl.org and download the time-saving platform that feeds your twitter feeds into an Instant Message-like platform, eliminating the time it will take you to continually check the twitter website.

Now you’re tweeting, but you’re a novice. In the words of @samirb, “Once you set up a twitter account, remember there’s a short learning curve, like going from a PC to a Mac.”

Have no fear, I’ll be back with some best practices in a following post.

What questions do you have? Don’t ask me what that picture is, you’ll figure it out on Twitter.

As you’ve read here before, we are thrilled to be handling the PR for Setai San Diego, the new 184-room premier luxury hotel located in downtown San Diego’s financial district, which opens next month (Dec. 2008). As Setai San Diego nears completion, the hundreds of design, art and custom-made features are being installed and really bringing the property to life. It is definitely unlike anything San Diego has ever seen and we think it will blow people away.

More pictures to come, but this gives you an idea of a standard room.

Setai San Diego has also just announced its dining and bar partner is Suite & Tender Bar, Lounge and Restaurant.  It will feature the cuisine of James Beard Award-winning Chef Christopher Lee, and will be a softer, more sophisticated take on the typical steakhouse. Suite & Tender is based on a gastro-tourism concept where diners have the chance to create an experience that is completely their own and will focus on choices, not rules. In addition to table-side cocktail service, it will offer a wine selection that gets this Napa Valley native very excited: guests will be able to sample various wines from a distinguished American-focused wine list, and create their own flights, deciding between a sip, a taste or a bottomless glass. Take a guess at which option I’ll be choosing from when dining or hanging in the Lounge…

Seaport Village’s Ben & Jerry’s locations are giving away free ice cream cones on election day from 5-9 p.m. as an “Election Confection” celebration.

In-the-know coworker, Callan let me know that Baskin Robbins was also doing some great work with the elections, so I checked it out. Not only are they doing great work with the elections, but with social media and branding overall. It’s a natural fit; people like to talk about stuff they love, and who doesn’t love ice cream!?

Check out The National Flavor Election Flavor Debate ’08. The Republican “Straight Talk Crunch” flavor vs. the Democratic “Whirl of Change” flavor. If you look to the cold and creamy to make your election decision, it looks like Obama will be running the country thanks to peanut-nougats, chocolate-covered peanut brittle and a caramel ribbon.

More importantly, Baskin Robbins and their Flavor Debate made all the right moves.

• Their Facebook page has 54,996 fans and they’re interacting with the brand through hundreds of wall posts and pictures.
• I took 2 minutes to type “Baskin Robbins” into monitter and people are talking! They weren’t talking casual mentions of BR either. They were talking about the Flavor Debate ’08 – exactly what BR’s smart PR folks wanted them to talk about!
• They’re represented on Flickr
• They’re talked about on Youtube
• They run a twitter account
• They’re saved on delicious
• And – they have a strong Wikipedia page

Ben & Jerry’s isn’t doing so bad themselves. With similar social interaction as Baskin Robbin’s and a heated debate on ice cream’s involvement in politics (2 subjects I never thought I’d combine in one sentence) their Facebook page has 287,819 fans!

So what are you doing to become one of these fine examples of successful social media campaigns?

Since the beginning of this blog, we have written 26 posts that reference and/or generally extol the virtues of social media.  As a company claiming social media as a core competency, and with many-a-successful case studies, it’s no surprise that we talk about it positively.

The primary reason to incorporate social media in your marketing is because people are talking about you.  Whether you choose to participate is your choice, but you can be certain that the chatter will continue.

And, if social media is all about communicating and listening, then it makes sense to communicate and listen when there is backlash to something.  Also, it’s always smart to listen to dissenting views of your product, company or service.  See Wall Street for examples.  So…..

The posts below are people talking.  Whether you agree or disagree is your choice.  What matters is that people are talking and other people are apparently listening as evidenced by the page view counters of almost 1 million combined.  Time will determine what the validity of sweetafton23 (top) and Seth McFarlane’s (bottom) views are.

And by the way, right now I love using social media to talk about other people using social media to bash social media.

Who are the fisk-a-teers?

They are women just like me who love to scrapbook.

They were recruited by the company Fiskars- you know, the scissor company- to help women like me with questions regarding their products. Fiskars needed a way to reach their customers through the web and found a perfect marketing plan to make it happen.

Some people may think it is frivolous, a website dedicated to scrap booking, knitting and sewing, etc. but there are plenty of women looking for that connection.  The Fiskars website gave us just that: we can chat, gossip, ask questions and feel at ease.

I was a stay-at-home mom for 3 years and the Internet was a very important part of my life to stay connected. It gets very isolating, routine and kind of lonely as a homemaker. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids and enjoyed every minute I spent with them but I craved that outside connection with women like me.

When Indra learned about this case study at Blog World 08 and shared it with the creative team, I thought it was a fantastic idea. What a perfect way to reach out to the people who are using their brand and offer help and support in a fun environment. It got women talking. It started a movement. And it reinvigorated the company’s brand within a strong customer base. (Remember how much purchasing power we have.)

The lesson is simple: find out what your customer wants and needs and build your interactive advertising and marketing around that.

It works……..proof is in the fisk-a-teers.

One of my favorite PR websites is The Bad Pitch Blog.  For us PR geeks, it’s a great place to get a laugh at the expense of some other publicist.

It is also a great reminder of the embarrassment you can suffer if you don’t pitch responsibly.  I have vowed that I never, ever wanted to see one of my pitches on the site, and I have accumulated a few tips over the years that any publicist can follow to keep themselves off the Bad Pitch Blog. These may seem like common sense, but the folks at the Bad Pitch Blog have proof that there are plenty of publicists who don’t know how to pitch responsibly, and seriously, those few are just making us all look bad.

To keep yourself off the Bad Pitch Blog always remember:

Do your research: Before you pitch a journalist, take a moment to research their publication and their past work.  Then, instead of blanketing everyone with one generic pitch, customize your pitch to each journalist. Just show journalists you did some homework, I promise they will appreciate it.  I once met a freelance journalist for lunch, and she told me she responded to my cold pitch and wrote about my client because I was the only publicist to actually google her, go to her website, read which publications she wrote for and what subjects she covered, and reference her past work in my pitch.  She has since become a great contact and has written about a number of my clients.

Tell a good story:  Send an INTERESTING pitch.  You are trying to sell your client and make someone want to write about them, so make sure you don’t bore them.  This also means spell check your work and make sure there are no typos.  It only takes a couple of seconds and it really does make a difference.

Be Patient: Relationships take time to build and it takes awhile to earn a journalist’s trust and respect.  And don’t expect instant results from your pitches. I have often sent a pitch and six months later gotten a response, when the journalist was finally working on a story that my client was a fit for.  This also means you do not need to follow up with editors every day and leave 30 messages.  Trust me, they got the first message.

Be available and ready:  Journalists are often working on tight deadlines, so if you pitch them a story, be proactive and anticipate what an editor will ask for and have it ready, whether it’s quotes, photos, information, or a representative to interview.  This is especially crucial if you are pitching breaking news.

Don’t take shortcuts:  Finally, and most importantly, even though there are a lot of tools and technology to help publicists do their jobs these days, there are still no shortcuts.  You still have to do the work if you want to be noticed in the sea of publicists, so don’t be lazy!

What other tips would you recommend for pitching responsibly?

Have you ever wondered what exactly an advertising agency does? If you are like me, and have never stepped foot into one before, it has probably crossed your mind. I am BG Creative’s new Administrative Assistant and being here has opened my eyes to the advertising world.

It goes beyond the end product you see on billboards, in magazines and on T.V. We have many creative, hardworking, dedicated people– all of us working together to meet and exceed the needs of our clients.  The teams are constantly researching, planning, thinking, and most importantly creating. They do all of this to make sure the end product is a success.

I look forward to sharing with you my insights into this fast-paced agency world. And until my next post, please enjoy a selection of my favorite BG Creative pieces: