Disqus - Friends of goldsteinmedia

Re: Becker's Hospital Review - 4 Tips for Creating an Extraordinary Patient Experience to Increase Referrals and Profitability

Beverly Payton — Wed, 26 May 2010 18:34:03 -0000

Healthcare Marketing: 4 Tips for Creating an Extraordinary Patient Experience to Increase Referrals & Profitability http://goo.gl/kvUZ

Re: Why the Digital Divide is Death to Your PR Firm

Beverly Payton — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:33:50 -0000

Great post Elizabeth and very insightful commentary on the difference between corporate and agency tolerance for experimentation. Social Media, because it's still evolving, requires more trial-and-error than traditional media relations. I think some of the mentality behind assigning social media to the digital department is the misconception that they are experts. What a hoot! All of us, including the experts, are still learning about this space and the best way to learn is to play here.

Re: Why Do Republicans Hate Poor, Hungry People? | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet

Beverly Payton — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:09:03 -0000

Not only do Republicans want to remove the minimal safety nets we have in place for the poor and elderly, they want to restict their ability to vote as well. No surprise what that's about.

Re: This is awesome! And our protest worked

Beverly Payton — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:59:14 -0000

I'm glad public pressure made lawmakers think (for a change) about the effect SOPA would have on everyone who uses the internet to find and share information. Whille most of us would probably agree that protecting intellectual property is a worthy goal, this measure was clearly half baked and over reaching.

Re: How to Make Sure Your Logo Tells Your Story

Beverly Payton — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:46:28 -0000

Great article! Another thing I'd add is to avoid creating a logo based on your acronym. Unless you are the, FBI, the CIA, the YMCA (which recently simplified its logo to "The Y"), or the NAACP, no one will know who you are based on your acronym alone. Moreover, your acronym might also be used by another organization that has nothing to do with your mission. Acronyms should be reserved for the convenience of internal audiences only. When you are communicating with the wider community, make sure your name and mission are prominent. And of course, your logo should visually communicate the essence of your mission.
One of my favorite logos is the one used by Big Brothers Big Sisters, while it shows a stylized icon of a mentor and youth reaching to touch each other (breaking the "no visual cliches" rule) the space between them forms both a heart and the letter B. Nicely done! The other logo I think is very cool is FedEx. It's simple yet bold, and notice the arrow formed by the space between the E and x? It symbolizes direction and movement.

Re: Seemingly Strapped California Parks Had Millions in Reserve

Beverly Payton — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:57:42 -0000

What a shame. This discovery will have a ripple effect on state parks and forests systems across the country that truly are being hurt by state funding reductions. The lesson learned here is that truth always outs eventually. Adhering to standards of transparency, accuracy and honesty will help prevent a future public relations nightmare.

Re: Aquatics International | Power 25: Johnny Johnson | February 2013

Beverly Payton — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:10:10 -0000

Kudos Johnny for this well-deserved recognition. Thank your for your life-long dedication to water safety and drowning prevention. You are an inspiration to everyone in the aquatics industry.

Re: Sorry, we couldn't find what you're looking for!

Beverly Payton — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 11:18:15 -0000

Kudos to Bob for a well deserved recognition. I hope his award also highlights the importance of including water safety in every school's physical education curriculum.

Re: 3-year-old child drowns in Tonawanda

Beverly Payton — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:45:49 -0000

How tragic. My heart breaks for those parents. Grandfather clauses are stupid when it comes to swimming pools. A 10-year-old pool is just as deadly to a young child as is a new pool. I serve on the Drowning Prevention Foundation Board of Directors. We recommend water disturbance alrams as a backup measure, but the first line of defense should always be a non-climbable isolation fence that completely surrounds the pool, separating it from the house and from the surrounding yard area. Also all house doors leading to a pool or other nearby water feature should be alarmed so parents will be alerted when a young child is trying to get out of the house. I know there will be many people who will be inclined to blame the parent for the child slipping away unnoticed. But toddlers move very fast and drowning is swift and silent. It often happens when parents are briefly distracted by routine household activities or caring for another child. No one can maintain 100% constant vigilance 100% of the time when it comes to young children. Supervision fails and that's why drowning is the LEADING CAUSE of injury death to children ages 1-4. Pool owners have a moral (and I wish a legal) obligation to prevent unsupervised access to their pool or spa just as much as gun-owners have an obligation to lock away firearms so children can't get to them.

Re: Teaching kids to swim and love the water reduces drowning risk

Beverly Payton — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:12:26 -0000

Amen! And regardless of your child's swimming ability, if you own a pool, be sure to prevent unsupervised access by having a four-sided isolation fence that separates the pool from your house and surrounding yard area. Install back-up barriers, such as water disturbance and child immersion alarms. Learn CPR and teach your water safety rules to grandparents, babysitters and others who care for your child.

Re: Should your online marketing strategy be built for SEO or Content?

Beverly Payton — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 23:36:41 -0000

Content is always king. If someone is drawn to your page by some SEO tactic, but doesn't find real value there, they won't come back. Or worse, you will lose credibility if they feel they were drawn there under false pretense.

Re: 2009 Warwick High School valedictorian drowns while swimming in Montana lake

Beverly Payton — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 15:42:06 -0000

I serve on the Drowning Prevention Foundation Board of Directors. sadly, this tragedy is far too common. To be safer in natural water environments, only swim on lifeguarded protected beaches and wear a Coast Guard approved lifejacket. Sadly, teenage and young adult males are the most common open water drowning victims. Often it's because they overestimate their swimming ability and are not aware that natural bodies of water pose significantly more risks than a swimming pool. For example, there can be strong currents and abrupt changes in water depth. Also there are often hidden debris, mud, or underwater vegetation that can pose an entrapment hazard.

Re: Police say 9-year-old drowned in Bloomingale swimming pool

Beverly Payton — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 18:14:22 -0000

It is tragic, and far too common. I serve on the Drowning Prevention Foundation board of directors. Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death to children ages 1-14. The tragedy is swift and silent with no splashing sound or cry for help. Too bad the article doesn't clarify how the child gained access to the pool-- if the pool was indeed fenced on all four sides, as the article implies. Was the fence non-climbable with no handholds or footholds? Were there objects adjacent to the fence that a child could use to climb upon to scale the fence? Did the fence have a self-closing, self-latching gate? These are commonly accepted best practices for preventing children's unsupervised access to swimming pools and should be noted in the accident report for by the Child Death Review Team so that corrective actions can be taken and future such tragedies prevented. Finally, a nine year old child is certainly old enough to have learned basic swimming skills if lessons were made available to her. Sadly, too many children never learn how to swim. Swimming lessons save lives and water safety skills should be provided for every child starting in preschool and continued through elementary school as part of the basic PE curriculum. Drowning is preventable but only if we all take a stand and declare this epidemic as unacceptable and do everything possible to prevent it.

Re: Third of millennials watch mostly online video or no broadcast TV

Beverly Payton — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 17:36:40 -0000

The research methodology may be flawed, but my anecdotal experience--with my millennial son--tells me it's probably spot on. He doesn't have cable TV--says he doesn't need it, consumes all the content he needs online and streams it to his big TV. Almost all of his friends do the same. And any "news" he does consume is more likely to come from the "Colbert Report" than the New York Times.

Re: Public affairs pros say why Obama, Dems won shutdown message battle

Beverly Payton — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 11:43:32 -0000

I respectfully disagree. I think the overall Republican message is quite clear and not at all inconsistent. Quite simply, the GOP has effectively branded itself as the party that wants to deregulate and give tax breaks to big corporations and cater to the rich and powerful while taking food from hungry children, restricting women's rights to reproductive healthcare, disenfranchise minorities and the poor from voting rights, deny chronically sick and poor people's access to health care, deny the working poor a living wage, deny the science about climate change and dismantle government sectors that oversee clean air and water, food safety, public education, banking and finance. The GOP shutdown and debt ceiling debacle was just the icing on their screw-you-47% cake, indicating that they honestly don't even care about the federal deficit either, since many economists agree this stunt only made matters worse. They fail to realize that many voters--including those who are not part of that 47% they are so eager to dismiss--frankly don't want to live in a country where children go hungry and uneducated, grandma is forced to eat cat food, people with preexisting conditions are essentially told to "just die" and the inscription on the Statue of Liberty is changed from: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breath free..." to "GO AWAY! You are not welcome here." That's a pretty clear Republican message and that's why they are swimming against the U.S. demographic tide.

Re: Haggling with The Haggler: PRSA Responds to The New York Times

Beverly Payton — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 12:58:39 -0000

Great point, William, about how all of us must purge our electronic inbox of unsolicited junk mail on a daily basis. But reporters use their email to gather more information from existing story sources, converse with colleagues and do other important work on deadline. As someone who's been there, done that, I completely understand the frustration of having to sift through hundreds of spammy emails in order to find that important one piece of important information that you must plug into a story before the 3 p.m. copy deadline. That said, you are right that the media database is an important tool for both public relations and media professionals and Segal's anger is misdirected to the tool, instead of its user. I addressed this in my own blog here: http://paytonpr.com/blog/. I'd enjoy your comments.

Re: Toddler drowns in pool

Beverly Payton — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:53:57 -0000

I am very sorry to hear of another drowning tragedy involving a young child. Drowning is the leading cause of death to children under age 4. I serve on the Board of the Drowning Prevention Foundation. Please understand that children are never drown proof, regardless of their perceived swimming skills. That's why you must prevent unsupervised access to swimming pools with a non-climbable, isolation fence that separates the pool from the house and from the surrounding play yard area. Whenever children are playing in or near water, constant, vigilant adult supervision is necessary. And yes, teach your children to swim at a young age and maintain those skills year-round.

Re: “How could a mother just let her child die?”

Beverly Payton — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 22:12:33 -0000

I'm a director for the Drowning Prevention Foundation, and, like Kat Plint, the bereaved parent of a child drowning victim. My daughter, Alicea, drowned a week before her fourth birthday in our neighbor's unsecured above ground pool while she was a guest at their home.
Sadly, this "It can't happen to me" attitude is far too common among parents. They don't heed our warnings because they don't think it applies to them. Maybe that' why, despite years of public education efforts, drowning remains the leading cause of death to children ages 1-4. The tragedy is swift and silent and usually happens when conscientious, responsible parents are briefly distracted by routine daily activities such as answering the phone, going to the bathroom, changing another child's diaper, etc. In fact, nearly half of child drowning victims were last seen in the house. The best way to protect young children around water is to prevent unsupervised assess to swimming pools by surrounding them on all four sides with a non-climbable, isolation fence that separates the pool from the house and from the surrounding play yard. Add additional layers of protection such as alarms on house doors, so you will know if your tot is trying to escape. Also consider water disturbance alarms and even child immersion alarms (worn on the child's wrist.) But remember these are merely backups to the primary layer--a pool fence, equipped with a self-closing self-latching gate. Enroll children in swimming lessons at an early age and maintain those skills year round. And of course, whenever children are playing in or near water, always provide diligent, undistracted adult supervision. Know how to perform CPR and have a phone by the pool, but only to summon emergency medical services, not to text or chat with friends.

Re: “How could a mother just let her child die?”

Beverly Payton — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 11:16:00 -0000

I am honored to know you, Kat. Thank you for educating others about drowning prevention and for standing up to those mean spirited, ignorant people who only want to lay more guilt on newly bereaved parents. Shame on them.

Re: Snowy owl invasion

Beverly Payton — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 18:07:03 -0000

Cool! Gotta dig out the binoculars and put them by my back door in case some snowy owls visit the farm field behind us.

Re: 2-year-old Glendora girl drowns during Christmas gathering

Beverly Payton — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 11:43:27 -0000

I'm a director of the Drowning Prevention Foundation and tragedies like this break our hearts since most of us are the bereaved parents of child drowning victims. Drowning is the LEADING cause of death for children ages 1-4 according to the CDC. The majority of these tiny victims drown in a residential swimming pool and nearly half were last seen in the house. The tragedy is swift and silent. Most victims were only missing for a few minutes before being discovered in the pool. You would be astonished to learn how many drownings occur when there are many adults nearby. Child safety experts, including the DPF, insist that ALL swimming pools must be surrounded by an "isolation fence" that separates the pool from the house and from the surrounding yard area. The access gate should be self-closing & self-latching. We also recommend having multiple layers of protection, such as alarms on all house doors--especially doors that lead to the pool area, so you will know if a tot is trying to get outside. Also consider water disturbance alarms and even child immersion alarms (worn on a child-s wrist). But remember these are only backup measures, in case the child defeats the first barrier--the pool fence. Enroll children in swimming lessons at a young age and maintain those skills year round. Finally, every pool owner and every parent must know how to perform CPR. I know this sounds like a lot, but please understand that young children are drawn to water as bees to nectar and it's impossible--even for responsible, loving parents to keep their eyes on an active toddler 24/7. We must do everything in our power to protect them and that means preventing unsupervised access to this deadly Pied Piper that lurks in so many backyards.

Re: PressFriendly launches 'virtual PR firm' so startups don't need to hire an agency | VentureBeat | Business | by Rebecca Grant

Beverly Payton — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 14:57:54 -0000

I concur with Con and others who said that it's absurd for a start-up with a small advertising and PR budget to hire a large agency when an independent public relations practitioner can offer senior-level strategic consulting (much of which can be executed in a DIY capacity) for a significantly lower fee. Moreover, Edger is spot on. PR does NOT stand for Press Release. It's a common misconception that media relations is all we do when it's only one tool in our toolkit. There's a huge difference between a publicist and a strategic public relations consultant. The latter will know which tools will be most effective with specific key audiences. That takes specialized knowledge and experience. It also takes setting SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based.) so you can measure what works best and pump more time and money into effective strategies and eliminate those that are not producing the results you're seeking (like, perhaps, issuing press releases).

The definition of public relations is establishing and nurturing mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics. Machines and computers certainly make our jobs easier, but, in the end, nothing can replace a human-to-human relationship.

Re: Exclusive: Shawn Levy Talks Casting for Starman Remake

Beverly Payton — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:00:48 -0000

I totally agree. I can't imagine another actor doing justice to Starman. Jeff Bridges nailed it. Karen Allen was great as the sweet but spunky widow. And the story screamed sequel. I can't imagine why they never made one.

Re: EPA spokesman: No plan to take down climate webpages

Beverly Payton — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 16:28:01 -0000

Agreed. I used to be communications director for a freshwater research organization and our scientists were extremely careful to eliminate chief investigator bias in data sampling and testing methods as well as submit their findings and analysis to a rigorous peer review to ensure the conclusions were strictly evidence based. Anyone who questions the objectivity of Ph.D. level researchers clearly doesn't have a clue about the rigors of the scientific method. I wish this topic was covered thoroughly at the high school level, not just in college, so that the average person could have a better understanding of what REAL science entails. The average person should have a better appreciation of the enormous effort required to have a scientific study published in a respected peer reviewed journal. Science is not a matter of opinion. It's a matter of verifiable facts.

Re: EPA spokesman: No plan to take down climate webpages

Beverly Payton — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 17:48:14 -0000

Exactly! That's why I'm so excited about plans to hold a #ScienceMarch in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, to show that science is vital to the advancement of humanity. I'm sure that the vast majority of people support rigorous, empherical, peer-reviewed scientific research to inform us about our biosphere, medical advancements, genetics, and ourselves. Those who want to deny climate scienc and the evolution-of-species are in league with the superstitious simpletons who maintained that the universe revolves around the Earth and that the Earth is flat. Scientists who could proove otherwise were ostracized and even imprisoned and threatened with execution. We must oppose those who want to send us back to the Dark Ages.