I was never a fan of Angelina Jolie. Until today. By sharing the story of her decision to take control of her health and opt for a double mastectomy, she has done a great service to women. As a woman whose entire career relies on beauty and the vitality of youth, Angelina has proven that she has substance and depth far greater than I’ve ever given her credit for.

We salute you, Angelina. Thank you for empowering women everywhere. http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/angelina-jolie-reveals-preventative-double-mastectomy-064002088.html

Note: For more information on BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic testing visit http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/GeneMutationsampGeneticTesting.html.

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO, Mike Jeffries, has alienated 66% of his potential female target market, including millions of moms who shop for their kids and teens. The 61-year-old CEO of the popular clothing line says he only wants “thin, beautiful people” shopping at Abercrombie.

Say what?

Have you checked recent statistics, Mr. Jeffries? According to womenshealth.gov, 66 percent of adult women are overweight and 32 percent of adolescent girls are overweight. That’s a lot of market share to give up over a pant size. In a 2006 interview with salon.com, Jeffries said his company is “absolutely exclusionary” because he thinks companies that try to target everyone fail.

I’ll give him that much but blowing off such a large number of potential female shoppers is not a smart move. When marketing to women, the message matters just as much as the product you sell. The message Jeffries is sending says “you suck and can’t be a part of our club if your pants size is larger than a 10.” No matter the age, women are emotional shoppers. Make us mad and we’ll tell everyone we know- and even a few we don’t.

It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out on the national stage, but I’m one female consumer of many who will no longer support the Abercrombie brand.

What's that you say? Mom bloggers want to work with PR professionals? AND there is a study to back it up? Excuse us while we do a little happy dance in our office.

Most of what we do here at FletcherPR involves marketing to women. We understand “her” voice and know what it takes to reach female consumers. In recent years, mom bloggers have emerged as a formidable force in the digital stratosphere, and we've adjusted our strategy to best target this niche.

According to the study, 93 percent of mom bloggers are willing to work with PR people, and they all accept samples. In addition, almost 78 percent want product for review every time to provide honest and transparent coverage. They also like to give it away to their audience, which we’ve found to be highly beneficial. Giveaways often translate into multiple posts, social media interactions and increased engagement with your brand.

If you're thinking that working with mom bloggers is a waste of your time and your product, we encourage you to think again. Whether you specifically target women or not, we live in a digital age and mom bloggers can help generate revenue.

Oh, and one last tip – no one likes to be called “dear blogger,” so personalize those pitches.

FletcherPR is a national communications firm that specializes in reaching women through the power of media. Headquartered in Knoxville, TN with staff in Nashville & Los Angeles, we are a full-service agency providing strategic public relations, social media and marketing communications services to our clients throughout the U.S.

We’ve all heard the phrase “loose lips sink ships” before. Now the phrase “loose tweets sink markets” can be coined, as long as you don’t mind if your idioms don’t rhyme.

On Tuesday, Apr. 24, the Syrian Electronic Army hacked the Associated Press’s official Twitter account. The hacker group then tweeted there had been an explosion at the White House and President Barack Obama had been injured in the blast.

Aside from stirring up panic among the AP’s massive online audience (the AP has more than 1 million Twitter followers), it also created hysteria at the New York Stock Exchange. The NYSE streams certain Twitter feeds across electronic banners on the trading floor, and you guessed it, the AP is one of those accounts the exchange broadcasts. After Wall Street traders got a glimpse at the offending tweet, a massive sell-off occurred, creating what is often referred to as a “flash crash.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 130 points, nearly one percent, over the span of two minutes. Six minutes later, the Dow had gained back nearly all that lost value. Another major index, The S&P 500, lost $121 billion dollars in value during this flash crash.

The stock market is known for experiencing wild swings, but these typically occur over the course of days, weeks or months. It is very unusual for such a large drop (or gain for that matter) to happen in the span of just a few minutes.

This incident demonstrates the power of social media. One fake tweet was able to move the entire stock market and cause people to react in such drastic fashion. Nearly 9 million shares of Dow stocks were traded during that dip. Let this incident serve as a demonstration of the power of social media.

At FletcherPR, we are so excited to be working with the Knox County Health Department. One project we are right in the middle of is addressing how leadership, environment and business all impact our overall community health.

Social media has given our voices a 24-hour, multinational broadcasting signal. As a result, those regrettable conversations you used to have in face-to-face settings can now turn into front-page headlines.

Sometimes these gaffes are funny, such as when a staffer for a U.S. Congressman tweeted “Me likey Broke Girls” on the Congressman’s Twitter account. Other times, though, the mishap is much less innocuous. A tragedy or serious news event is not something brands should be using as a selling tool, but we’ve seen them ignore this sage advice time and time again.

We’ve seen it in Kenneth Cole’s infamous Arab Spring tweet, and earlier this year, Australian online retailer, Sellitonline, posted that it would donate to wild fire victims based on how many Facebook likes it received.

Now, Epicurious is in hot water for a couple of tweets it published this week in relation to the recent Boston Marathon bombing tragedy. It received instant backlash and has had to resort to an aggressive apology campaign on Twitter.

It shouldn’t have to be said, but brands need to leave these sort of catastrophic events alone. This is not an appropriate way to promote a brand. Messages of condolences are fine. Charitable donations are acceptable as well, as long as the donation is straightforward and not made into a contest like Sellitonline attempted to do.

At the end of the day, Epicurious did much more harm to its image that greatly outweighs any potential sales those tweets could have generated.

The Huffington Post recently posted a list of the Worst Ads for Women 2012. As an agency that specializes in marketing to women, we love to look at these lists. We usually have a pretty good sense of humor, but sometimes these ads are just offensive. Here is their full list:

Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, is a genius when it comes to marketing to women, and she’s has been all over the news after her recent interview on 60 Minutes. Sandberg’s book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, is a topic of controversy among both men and women. I was captivated by her interview and immediately ordered the book. She believes we are our own worst enemies when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder and accessing positions of leadership and power. Sandberg cites a number of reasons.

No one likes to think they are being sold, and women are hyper sensitive to fast sales talk. A genuine approach is more likely to resonate, but what does that mean? And how do you market to women?

We’ve spoken before on the facts that men fill up a large part of the tech bubble. Women aren’t seen as the coders and engineers; they are seen as, well, the publicists and fashion designers. Frankly, we are over this stereotype and want to shed some light on tech companies that are marketing to women.

Venture to Silicon Valley or CES and we’ll bet you can count the number of women working for these male-dominated tech companies on both hands. Why is this? The Mark Zuckerberg’s of this generation have taken all desirable jobs, and that is the quintessential employee/entrepreneur right now.

According to a Kauffman Foundation analysis, women are actually more capital-efficient than men, and have lower failure rates than those led by men. If that doesn’t convince you, in the U.S., 140 women enroll in higher education for every 100 men, they earn more than 50 percent of all bachelor’s and master’s degree and the increase in the number of engineering degrees granted to women has grown almost tenfold.

We hope that this educates, inspires and empowers you to take on the world! After all, you’re a woman.

FletcherPR is a national communications firm that specializes in reaching women through the power of media. Headquartered in Knoxville, TN with staff in Nashville & Los Angeles, we are a full-service agency providing strategic public relations, social media and marketing communications services to our clients throughout the U.S