Tag Archives: marketing

Branded Content – The Love Child of PR, Advertising and Direct Marketing

Woman with newspaperImagine you are an editor of a newspaper.  You’ve got limited resources.  Not enough staff, out-of-date computers, maybe even labor problems, too.  You check your e-mail one deadline morning and see a ready-made article about Product SuperAwesome prewritten from your favorite PR pro (wink wink)!  With your publisher breathing down your neck, 30 minutes until the final edition goes to print and a gaping space in your publication, you slap the article about Product SuperAwesome’s industry into your paper and everyone is happy. Continue reading

Communicating to Uncle Sam

US Capitol, Washington, DC, USAPositioning a company effectively to pursue and win government business is one of the most interesting and sometimes the most challenging initiatives a communications professional can undertake.

This is not a post on how to get on a GSA schedule or how to navigate the government contracting process. This is a post on five things to consider to effectively position a company in front of government agencies to win business:

1.The government market is highly segmented. Some companies approach marketing and communicating to the government as if “the government” is a single entity. The reality of it is that each government agency has its own challenges and mission requirements that need to be addressed. A one-sized fits all approach in the federal sector will not get you very far. Instead, it is better to target a specific agency or agencies for your products and services, presenting a customized solution for their needs. Continue reading

From the Toy Fair Frontlines

Today we have a special guest cross-post from Stephanie Azzarone, founder and president of Child’s Play Communications.

This week marked the 107th American International Toy Fair, a major industry event held in New York City. I had the opportunity to moderate a panel there titled, Connecting With Moms In Social Media — Blogs, Twitter and Facebook, featuring toy companies and mom bloggers.

Speakers included Barb Rentschler (Chief Marketing Office, K’NEX),

Dell Monson (Senior Director of Marketing, Hidden City Games), Kimberly Coleman (Blogger, Mom in the City) and Melissa Chapman (Blogger, Real Moms Guide, Kids in the City, WCBS-TV).

What made this presentation successful was that it presented perspectives from marketers on the one hand and bloggers on the other. I thought I would share a few highlights here: Continue reading

Becoming the Mayor of Someone Else’s Apartment

Close-up of a laptop on the tableAs someone who’s been using Foursquare since it was in its ghetto/doesn’t always function/impossible for you to add a new location phase, I’ve found it very entertaining to watch this platform grow.  As it becomes increasingly accessible, more and more people have started to use it (especially since the Blackberry app came onto the scene!).

For me, the defining moment of when Foursquare had become “acceptable” was when my boyfriend started to use it after months of making fun of me for insisting on telling the world where I was.  I never thought that moment would come!  Besides its growing popularity, I’ve also noticed an increase in discussions surrounding its purpose and the proper way to use it.  In fact, TJ wrote a post about her foray into Foursquare just last week.  This is to be expected for any new medium, just as we saw with Twitter before.  Continue reading

Christina’s Coffee Talk with Jay Keith

Coffee Talk is back and I couldn’t be more excited to kick off the year with my guest, Jay Keith, senior public relations manager of Vistaprint. A prominent member of the #prbc community, Jay is always sharing his knowledge and making us laugh daily. Jay is a jack of all trades, smart, and funny to boot. Who knew that a former donut maker for Dunkin’ Donuts would become a successful PR professional? Like the rest of PRBC Jay’s an avid coffee drinker, loyal to his Dunkin Donuts brand but says it’s nothing compared to the coffee in France. He’s an amateur golfer, sports nut, die-hard Boston fan and a passionate Candlepin bowler. Continue reading

Companies: Be Good in the Social Web

Mouse Icon On Find Over Person's Eye Through Magnifying GlassIn the rush to get every consumer eyeball on their site, we are starting to see more instances of companies that are willing to align themselves with not so great people/vapid stars in order to boost their own Web presence/SEO. I won’t go into too many specifics here because we all know of some company that has done this, but I’ll be frank here: An attempt by companies to align/partner with  wanna-be celebrities that have terrible reputations or utilize shady social media marketing opportunism practices purely to build Web traffic and SEO for their company is NOT a strategy. Continue reading

The Bachelor: Failed Publicity Stunt or Marketing Genius?

The Blind Side New York PremiereAlright.  I admit it.  I watch The Bachelor. Some seasons, I actually enjoy watching it.  This time, it looks like it’s just something to laugh at.  Love it or hate it, the concept is a success.  Even if the buzz isn’t positive, the show gets talked about.  So as I laugh at this season’s stream of contestants, I thought it would help to see the good – that is, to look at the marketing lessons we can all learn from watching reality programs such as The Bachelor. Continue reading

SMS Marketing: Trend or Trouble

Business man having a break

Did you know that in the U.S. we send over 3.5 billion texts a day? I didn’t until a few months ago when I read, “Text-Message Marketing”. The article explains the rules on how to get started with SMS marketing. When I started the article I was completely against the whole idea. A few years ago I participated in a text message contest for “One Tree Hill.” We were allowed to pick which guy one of the characters could end up with. Who wouldn’t participate?! Continue reading

What Do Changes In PR Mean For The Rest Of Us?

Michael Schechter - Bio PhotoCuriosity finally got the best of me and I decided to ask @PRCog about the PRBC hashtag that kept popping up in my Twitter stream. He quickly got me up to date, and must have put a little something extra in his coffee as he suggested that I offer up a guest post.

There are a two things that make his offer unusual and somewhat extraordinary. The first is that I don’t know Cog all that well. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve Tweeted a few times and I even caught him with his mask off for a brief moment at #masquertweet a while back. The second (and far more relevant) reason for my confusion is that I do not currently nor have I ever worked in PR. But I am not a complete mismatch. Continue reading

Who, ME? Yes. You!

Yes. Yes, you.
I think we can all understand there is a certain element of me to social ME-dia. There is also the ME generation. Hi! Member 1,276,024 of the ME Generation reporting for duty. PR, Marketing and Ad folks have caught on and are milking this self-centeredness like nobody’s business. And I in no way claim myself an expert in this arena and am aware this sort of targeting has been happening for quite some time. But go with me here… Continue reading