National brands compete against traditional branded competitors, and increasingly are having to share shelf space with retailers’ private-label items in the same product category. Store brands are no longer “generics”; they are now a powerful brand in their own right. Continue reading
All posts by Tina McCormack Beaty
Pitching Broadcast: The Optical Story
Flip on the TV – it’s a visual and auditory experience. A worthy story can reach through the screen and grab viewers, often moving them to action. When pitching stories to local broadcast we need to think like the producer -focus on a local angle and remember what makes good TV. Components to a solid TV story include Continue reading
Why Evergreen Stories Die
Evergreen stories mean the content is permanently fresh and always newsworthy – sounds like a media pitching slam dunk, right? Unfortunately, in today’s constantly moving news cycle evergreen stories don’t make it to air because they can be pushed for another day, and another day, and so often fall off a producer’s radar.
I’ve heard from practitioners who brainstorm evergreen topics internally and then get their clients, who are experts in a specific field, to layer on a juicy details germane to the moment – yet on the flip side I know folks who confirm evergreen topics with their clients and then pitch out when they can piggyback on a hot topic in the news. No matter the process, the fact remains that our end goal is to secure a story and an evergreen story alone won’t open up doors much less land a spot on the nightly news. Continue reading
What Women Want? A Woman Knows
State of the Union: Women in PR, Part 2 (See Part 1 here)
Social is still a hot trend. Clients are demanding it, agencies are pitching it, and consumers are inundated with it. Social is a direct-to-consumer channel to reach influencers and build awareness, but there’s a real problem getting your message through the noise. The daily usage rates of social are staggering, with over 42 billion minutes spent on Facebook, 50 million tweets, and 2 million blog posts. Continue reading
State of the Union: Women in the PR, Part 1
Women in Leadership
It’s a great time to be in the PR industry – shaping public perception of key issues, political figures, and new products coming to market. Specifically, 2013 is a great year to be a woman in PR with plenty of room to push forward with networking playing a key role in making the move.
The formidable industry outlet PRWEEK offers two strong barometers in their ranking lists of professionals. The growth of powerful woman within their awards speaks volumes – this year almost half of PRWEEK’s 50 Power List were women and more than half of their recent 40 under 40 honorees were women. Continue reading
Facebook’s Future
Facebook’s mission is to make the world more open and connected. Since launching in 2004, Facebook has changed what it means to connect online and has empowered billions to share. But nearly a decade in, there is uncertainty about Facebook maintaining its top flight position due to changing demographics, competitors, copied innovation and a backlash to paid content strategy. The assumption has been Facebook is easy, the de facto, must-use social platform. A client says “we need social” – marketers would say “Facebook.” As strategists we can’t just assume Facebook is a go to solution moving forward. Continue reading
What the Media Thinks
Recently, the professional organization Washington Women in Public Relations hosted members of the media for a state of the industry roundtable at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. As a PR professional, how many times do you wish you could just pick the brain of media on what pitches work, what they think of PR, and their view of on traditional versus digital media – here is an insider peek. Continue reading
SOLOMOCO is the Future According to Head of Social and Mobile at Google
Mobile marketing will be a mainstream commercial powerhouse. Local search will be a key battlefield. Social media will continue to be part of everything. That’s the future of marketing and PR according to Google’s Head of Social and Mobile Solutions, Tim Reis.
Sure social is already hot and we have been hearing “mobile will be a game changer” for the last few years but Reis recently lifted the covers at the Think Small Achieve Big conference hosted by Vocus and gave a peek of where the next five years will take us and how we can position for success. Continue reading
Value of a Facebook Fan – Still Worth Considering?
Over the last year, chatter between brands and agencies continues to circle around the top of the defining and understanding the value of a Facebook fan. There is no direct answer given the multiple of impacts that go into a Facebook brand strategy. Many fans are gained through a combination of organic growth and paid acquisition – in light of GM’s announcement that it will no longer use Facebook ads, will other brands follow suit and change the conversation again on the value of a Facebook fan? Continue reading
Becoming Enchanted
Recently Entrepreneur Magazine hosted Guy Kawasaki’s talk “Enchant and Engage More Customers with Social Media” just outside of DC. The session was based on Guy’s current book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. It was a great morning centered around a very charismatic speaker. The event wasn’t your typical social media conference, which I highly valued, and it highlighted one core truth – no matter the tools or message the act of PR is enchantment.
This idea was solidified when post-event I started reading Guy’s book and saw that the first few chapters reinforced that enhancement is present whenever people are trying to make the world a better place. Making the world a better place is why we work with mission-driven companies and organizations here at CFox Communications. We tell our client stories as our small part in making the world a better place, and we can tell more stories the more enchanting we are. Continue reading