How to Take the Pain Out of the Editing Process
Nobody expects perfection, and certainly not on the first attempt. That’s why we always anticipate that the written content we produce for clients will need at least one round of edits – and maybe more. The editing process is without a doubt a key component of content...
Award-Winning Award Entries: Differentiating Between Strategies and Tactics
Whenever I get award entries (or PR proposals for that matter) to review, I am always struck at how much confusion there is between what constitutes a strategy versus a tactic. Generally what I will find is that the strategies and tactics are mixed together in some...
Marketing In a COVID World
In mid-May we talked about the emergence of a new normal in public relations and marketing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Media coverage of the virus has become all-consuming in the intervening four months. Over 100 million pieces of news focused on COVID-19...
Breaking Into the Policy World through Public Relations
Unless your organization happens to have an office in the Washington, D.C. bubble, engaging in federal policymaking can seem like a daunting task. Many organizations will understandably dismiss the opportunity to get involved in policy discussions because they simply...
How to Prepare for Media Interviews
The Roman statesman Seneca once said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” This is a sentiment executives must keep in mind as they prepare for media interviews. And the key word here is preparation. As busy as everyone seems to be in the era...
5 Helpful PR Tips for Rebranding
Many healthcare technology companies are choosing to rebrand because of the impact that the novel coronavirus has had on the healthcare ecosphere. Capabilities or focus points which may not have been on the forefront before this year-long industry earthquake are now...
Research: Be Careful What You Link To
Stats and other evidence can look great at first, but after a little digging…not so much A big part of the content we create for clients, whether it is a blog post, bylined article, white paper, or even an infographic, is research. It can be a collaborative process...
Substance Over Spin
Despite all of the metrics and data at our fingertips these days, public relations is still more art than science when it comes to attaining the ultimate goal: media coverage. Sure, reports that show impact after the fact are indispensable and all the information at...
In 2020, a “Thought Leader” is just a Regular Person
The phrase "thought leader" is one that is thrown around a lot in public relations. And it's understandable: For any public-facing organization or business, it's important to have experts on hand who can speak to the public. However, as someone involved in day-to-day...
5 Reasons to Invest in Your Future, Despite the Scary Past
Welcome to Q3, 2020. What does that mean for how public relations and marketing departments will invest in their futures? Q4 will be the time to finalize budgets for 2021. After a tumultuous year including a pandemic, record unemployment, civil unrest and a...
Avoiding the Information “Tug-of-War” During Product Launch
Here's the scenario. A new product or solution has been developed. Sales and marketing — because they have tangible goals that must be met in a certain timeframe — want to rush out the product launch so they can start selling it. However, other departments within the...
Blinders Off: The Value of Performing a Marketing Audit
One of the late George Carlin's most famous comedy bits was his list of oxymorons, or as he put it words that don't go together with other words. He used examples such as 'jumbo shrimp', 'exact estimate' and 'military intelligence' to make his point. There is one more...
Amendola Taps Philip Anast for General Manager Position
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., June 30, 2020 - Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, has promoted Philip Anast to the position of General Manager, the agency announced today. Anast is a PR...
Beating the Odds When Pitching Trade Show Media Interviews
It sounds like a simple request: we're going to be at such-and-such conference or event and we want to secure some media interviews while we're there. It makes sense, since trade show media interviews have been a staple of public relations pretty much since Glogg...
10 Fast Visual Tips for a Fabulous Zoom Media Interview
By Marcia Rhodes Congratulations! Your amazingly talented PR team just landed an interview for you on a local or national news program, to be conducted via Zoom. Since you regularly use Zoom for video calls, the interview should be a piece of cake. Right? Well, it's...
What Journalists Want: We Read Cision’s 2020 State of the Media Report So You Don’t Have To
Another year, another Cision "State of the Media" report. The 2020 edition, which represents the 11th annual report in the series, surveyed more than 3,200 journalists from across the globe to provide a picture of today's media landscape. While much of the yearly...
Bulldog PR Awards 2020 Honors Amendola for Air Methods Crisis Management Campaign and Vocera Product Launch
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. June 4, 2020 Amendola Communications announced today that it has won two 2020 Bulldog PR Awards, solidifying the company's reputation as a top public relations (PR) and marketing communications agency for healthcare and health IT. The Bulldog PR...
Aim for Progress, not Perfection in Crucial Conversations
In my last post, we learned that a key technique to resolving problems is fostering dialogue with another person, or even a group of people. This wisdom comes from the best seller, "Crucial Conversations." Having the other person's best interests in mind goes a long...
The Real Secret to Creating Great Content
Probably the greatest single piece of advice I've ever heard about content creation didn't come from a college class/professional course, or a boss/mentor, or any other supposed expert source. Instead, it came from the movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." Here it...
5 Tips on How to Write Social Media in a One-Subject World
AKA #WantToUseNewHashtags! As any public relations professional will tell you, making your story stand out from the rest of the noise is what we're paid the big bucks to do. Press releases, bylines, blogs and case studies are the stuff of dreams. Internally, this is...
Jodi Amendola Honored as One of Ragan’s “Top Women in Communications”
Amendola Communications CEO recognized in the "Leader" category for her outstanding achievements in building a high-performing PR and marketing agency SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 19, 2020 Ragan Communications confirmed what most healthcare and health IT companies (and her...
The New Normal in Public Relations and Marketing
Even saying it seems like an oxymoron it's not exactly normal if it's completely new. Truthfully, the new normal will be defined by the choices we make today and most importantly tomorrow. While it's been said many times, the present experience is rather...
How to Write During a Pandemic
Writing is difficult, especially when you work from home, as many of us do here at Amendola. As I write this, for example, the COVID-19 virus pandemic is sweeping across the U.S., with New York City and Louisiana emerging as hot spots. I point that out for two...
Amendola Communications Advises How to Break Through the COVID-19 News Cycle
The global COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate almost the entire news cycle. And with good cause, given its devastating impact on every aspect of our lives. Still, it poses challenges to break through, compounded by mass furloughs in the media of reporters, producers and other staff. That makes it harder to get messages out about any topic, especially those unrelated to COVID-19.
Bringing A More Data-Driven Approach to PR Campaigns
As the presidential election cycle heats up we are hearing more and more about how certain campaigns are making (and have made) imaginative use of data to help boost their candidates' chances of success. A good example is a story I heard recently about the early...
PR in the Time of COVID-19
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." The great gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson said this many years ago, and it certainly holds true today. During these disorienting times of COVID-19, in the year 2020, things are inarguably weird. And scary. And...
4 Simple Tips for a Successful User Conference
For attendees, a user conference is a little like a mini-vacation. It's an opportunity to bask in the luxury of being a valued customer, perhaps with a stay at a beachside resort with catered meals and evenings of receptions with open bars. Not a bad assignment if you...
Don’t Let Emotions Rule “Crucial Conversations”
There is no shortage of books on communication in the workplace to improve collaboration and maximize teamwork. Harvard Business Review also provides wonderful, well-researched articles that can help one improve communication and leadership capabilities. But one book...
How to Maximize Exposure for Your HIMSS20 Sessions that Never Happened
In the wake of HIMSS20 being cancelled, many people whose HIMSS presentations were accepted for this year's conference are lamenting the fact that the sessions that they worked so hard to get accepted won't be given. Let's face it, there is a ton of work that goes...
Seeing Yourself Through Your Child’s Eyes: A Personal Story
It isn't often that we get a chance to see ourselves as our children see us. But I recently received that gift when my daughter Jackie wrote the post, "My Life Growing Up with a Powerful CEO as a Mom" for the Daily Californian blog (cleverly called The Daily Clog)....
Taking the Animal House Approach to HIMSS20
When news came down the Thursday before HIMSS20 was set to begin that the conference had been cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns, it was tough to tell whether that loud sigh that rippled across America was relief or exasperation. On the one hand, everyone who was on...
Using PR and Storytelling in Your B2B Marketing Strategy
Your company has a story and people want to hear it. Remember the last time you heard a great story? If you're anything like me, it was probably a movie or T.V. show. Since the entertainment industry makes money by telling good stories, this makes sense. But in our...
Walking the Tightrope between Great Content and SEO
It may not quite be Lincoln and Douglas, or even great taste/less filling. But the debate about which is more important to a brand's online presence great content or search engine optimization (SEO) continues to rage on. On one side you have the writers. Especially...