Tag: Thoughts and Musings

My Life

PR Tips for the Philippine agencies

I sideline as a PR connoseur. Hah!

In truth, I’ve attended about a hundred PR events, big and small since the year 2003. Here are some tips I offer PR agencies when organizing events for the press, especially for the tightly knit technology industry:

Lose the hard copy but never the soft copy
People in PR should understand that the press do not live in the dark ages, where a hard copy of a product press release goes into a drawing board to be cut apart and pasted to fit a magazine page. Though it may sound too basic to even mention, PR material should always have an accompanying digital format available.

Never hold an event before 11:00 AM
I’ve talked to several people in the publishing industry and they say that their typical day begins at around 11:00 AM. Journalists and print media people usually begin their day late because they have been up the previous night covering the breaking news.

For the rainy season, umbrellas are useful for giveaways. Do not give them out during summer.
This one is self explanatory.

Know what’s out there
If you have friends in the press or with other competing brands, ask around if they have product launches on that same day. By hierarcy, Apple product launches are usually top priority.

Categories
Mostly Everything

“A Bugged Life” Blog Blueprint

I had dinner with INQ7’s Editor in Chief JV Rufino last week because I needed a bit of insight on information architecture. He was essentially the only person who I felt could help me with some issues about IA.

There is a big similarity between being an editor of a magazine and being an editor of an online publication, which I shall refer to as the website. These are the similarities:

  • Magazines have a page plan. Websites have a content management system.
  • Magazines have sections. Websites have categories or channels.
  • Magazines have a front cover. Websites have a portal.
  • Magazines use circulation data for advertisers. Websites use page views.
  • Magazines use independent readership surveys. Websites subscribe to a reliable ad server.

    • Above all these however, one should go back to basics and figure out what kind of publication one should concentrate on in the first place. Applied to blogging, you can ask what your target niche is, and then from there the design should follow. More on this later as I chronicle the site redesign for A Bugged Life.

    The Butterfly Effect

    jayvee butterfly effect.jpg

    I live by the idea that everything that you do has some apostolic purpose, no matter how small it may be, from the twitching of your finger, to you buying that book, to you not reading that book, to becoming president of a company.

    A lot of my contemporaries in the blogging industry say that they had no idea they would end up doing what they do now. One thing is common though – they all started because of two things: a passion and more interestingly – a need.

    A need to pay bills. A need to buy food so as not to starve. A need to stop being idle. A need for an escape. And now, we have our own little big world.

    Thinking of a site redesign

    I’ve been long thinking of a blog overhaul. The main purpose would be to better position my site against the stuff I do for a living. A Bugged Life started as an experiment but as all experiments eventually turn into patents and then products, I’ve been considering targeting my blog’s niche into more specific items.

    I’d appreciate some feedback from readers about the following:

    1. What do you think my niche is upon reading my blog?
    2. Does it effectively give a good overview of the things I do? What could be improved? What things are being done well?
    3. Do you enjoy my one panel comics? (hehe)
    4. Do you think I read a lot of books?
    5. If you were to categorize the stuff I write about into three general topics, what would they be?

    Feedback would help.

    Categories
    Mostly Everything

    Philippine Christmas Bazaar Schedule

    Thanks to Viloria, through Trissie, we can now schedule our Christmas shopping spree. The whole schedule is here.

    So what gift do you give a blogger during Christmas? Some suggestions would include:

    1. a wireless mouse
    2. a WiFi account
    3. hits
    4. a shirt with your blog URL as text
    5. seed money to open a USD savings account
    6. extra battery for laptop
    7. trackbacks
    8. Bluetooth headset
    9. Microphone for podcasting, preferably this brand