Tag Archives: marketing

Dave Thomas

The Time May Be Now to Re-Think the Online Marketing Approach

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While the economy attempts to get some legs under it, many companies, be they just starting a business or around for some time now, are looking at and reviewing their marketing efforts.

If your business is trying to wrap its arms around the all-important return on investment (ROI), your online marketing and social media efforts are great places to give a second look. In essence, are you getting the bang for your dollar when it comes to properly marketing your company online?

Marketing in 2012 is even more challenging for many companies given most experts cannot pinpoint with certainty where the economy is going.  Continue reading →

Jason Mollica

Building Relationships Through Marketing

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How many times have you heard it: You need to grow your followers and fans on social platforms to foster trust and growth of your brand.

Maybe you are sick of hearing this, but it’s very true. Someone who I have enjoyed following on Twitter and her blog for a while now is Mari Smith. She recently published the book, “The New Relationship Marketing.” If you didn’t believe the italicized sentence above, you will by the time you finish Mari’s book. Continue reading →

Keith Trivitt

Exploring the Value of PR for Startups

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A series of opinion pieces last week by Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire business mogul Mark Cuban asserting that startups “should never hire a PR firm” got the PR world buzzing with outrage. But does he have a point or is it too general a brushstroke to paint that PR can “never” benefit a startup? Let’s look at the tape.

But, before doing so, it’s instructive to take a deeper look at what, exactly, Mr. Cuban said. In an op-ed for Entrepreneur.com, excerpted from his latest book, “How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It,” he lays out his “12 rules for startups.” Rule No. 11 states:

Never hire a PR firm. Continue reading →

Keith Trivitt

The Next Great PR Firm

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What will be the next great, innovative PR firm?

I wrote this question in a note in my iPhone late one night last week. For those who don’t know me, I’m a bit of a nerd, and yes, these are the things I think about. Primarily, I posed this question to myself as part of my job at PRSA, which includes advocating the business value of PR. But I also ask it because I’m genuinely interested in finding the answer.

Who among my generation of PR pros — those old enough to remember Bacon’s before it became Cision but young enough that our entire careers have evolved online — will create the next great PR firm? The next Edelman or Burson-Marsteller or SHIFT Communications. The type of PR firm that comes to define a generation within the industry and advances the business of PR well beyond the status quo. Continue reading →

Amanda DiSilvestro

Is Creativity Worth the Gamble?

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I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes we need to get creative in the world of PR—how can I get this person to email me back; how can I get this person to see that my idea is the best; how can I make this company look a little bit less boring. It can be tough, and in some situations creativity is absolutely the key to success. However, PR professionals are often in charge of creating press releases, helping with interviews, and creating campaigns for the eyes and the ears of the public. In other words, PR departments have the entire public analyzing their work. This led me to wonder: Can being too creative be too risky? Continue reading →

Keith Trivitt

Are Marketers Losing Interest in Twitter?

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Remember when every blog post and article in AdAge and Mashable was about how great Twitter was for marketers? That seems so 2009, doesn’t it? When was the last time you read a big story on how Twitter is grabbing marketers’ attentions and clients’ interests?

It’s just not happening much anymore. And, as we all know, if something is hot in marketing, we’ll talk it up endlessly, analyze its benefits and potential downfalls and examine every little nook and cranny of what makes something the current/next big thing.

And yet none of that is happening around Twitter. At least not on the scale it was six months ago, and certainly not on the scale of Facebook. Continue reading →

Jason Mollica

The “Rules” are Still New

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Social media’s integration with public relations and marketing is still “new.” There are some that are slow to truly understand how we, as PR and marketing pros, can make all these puzzle pieces fit. When is Twitter relevant for my business. Why do I need a Facebook page? What will a blog really do for me?

If you’ve been asked those questions (and I have), you’ll find great support in reading David Meerman Scott’s, “The New Rules of Marketing and PR.” Now in its third edition, it is essential for any up-and-coming pro. Heck, you should read it as a experienced one, too. Continue reading →

Shannon Suetos

Writing and PR: Like Peas and Carrots

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Public relations, like many things in life, is 90 percent perspiration and 10 percent inspiration. Many people have a misconception of what we do (even our family). Writing is something that is a part of a PR pro’s daily hourly duty. PR isn’t about rubbing elbows with celebrities and throwing extravagant parties for clients. But, I’m speaking to the choir on this.

Any PR pro knows the importance of honing their writing skills. It’s a must. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be anywhere in the PR world. Not only do we have to craft the perfect pitch for media, we have to write compelling press releases and blog posts people find interesting.  Continue reading →

Keith Trivitt

Latest ‘Got Milk?’ Campaign Shows Worst of Marketing

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“We accomplished what we set out to accomplish.”

Keep that quote in the back of your mind as you read skim pick apart the main points of this post. I’ll tell you who uttered this seemingly innocuous statement in a minute, but first, some background information:

It seems that the California Milk Processor Board — you probably know it as the folks who brought us the ubiquitous “Got Milk?” campaign and its many impostors — has gotten itself into some social media hot water over its most recent campaign.

What could be so unseemly about a milk ad, you ask? Well, when you try to use something that is wholly unfunny (like milk) as a way to poke fun of something that is also not humorous (e.g., women struggling with PMS) into an ad to sell more of your product, people tend to take offense at that. Or just get really annoyed. Continue reading →

Keith Trivitt

Google’s Savvy Marketing Launch of Google+

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Some quick thoughts from a marketing, PR and ad perspective on Google’s just announced new foray into social networking — the terribly named Google+ (as Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land terms it*).

As I tweeted earlier in the day:

keithtrivitt: Prediction: Ad buyers will be all over Google+. More open analytics plus more targeted networks to tap into http://t.co/usHznta

I like that Google has started out by opening Google+ to only a select few and allowing them to invite their friends. Continue reading →