Get Started for FREE
Sign up with Facebook Sign up with X
I don't have a Facebook or a X account
 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
Scoop.it!
My good pal and now co-author of “Marketing In The Round,” Gini Dietrich, says we should be more personal in our blogs. Tell more stories. Acknowledge when we need to get better at how we run and market our businesses. In her blog, Gini has spoken with ruthless honesty about some of the challenges she’s faced in her business.
[Great reminder for any business or solo consultant - JD] 
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scoop.it!
From
holtz
...In fact, those self-promoting blogs Marshall seems to think characterize agency efforts don’t represent the best agency blogging. Agency blogs that produce the kinds of results H&K has achieved spotlight thought leadership, not awards and new-hires. The ain’t-we-great style of blog—whether from an agency or a company—never appealed to anybody, a fact reinforced by Forrester research that dates back 3-1/2 years.
When I asked study author Josh Bernoff about the Digiday article, he asked, “Did (agency blogs) have anything to say in the first place? Blogs are for thought leaders.” Which is exactly how Forrester approaches blogging. “Only Forrester analysts blog,” he points out, “and they are all, by definition, trying to be thought leaders.”...
Scoop.it!
Every now and then, I think back to when we were first setting up shop in 1989.
...Back in the early days of Crawford/Mikus Creative Marketing & Design, collaborating with clients was the name of the game. We were constantly on the road, meeting with clients about campaign strategies, discussing new projects, sharing layouts and doing press checks.
Fast forward to 2012 and it’s a very different world. We’ve gone from face time to Facebook. Now, days or weeks could go by without seeing a client in their offices or in our studio...
Scoop.it!
Lots of agencies have booze on hand—Arnold in Boston even has an impatient and lonely beer vending machine that harasses employees on Twitter until they visit it. But JWT's Casa in Brazil has the most annoying agency beer fridge.
It's hooked up to the shop's computers and refuses to open on Fridays until all staffers complete their weekly time sheets.
[PR agency CEO, CFO, bosses, managers' alert! Must-have management tool! ;-) JD ]
Scoop.it!
...According to the Content Marketing Institute, content initiatives now account for more than 25% of overall B-to-B marketing spend, and 60% of marketers plan to increase that amount in 2012. A full 90% of B-to-B marketers do some form of content marketing, even if they don’t realize it, while B-to-B companies invest on average a quarter of their total budget on creating content.
Other research has found that 90% of customers “find custom content useful,” and 61% of people “feel better about a company that delivers custom content and are more likely to buy from that company.” With outside firms now picking up a lot of important and available new content work, the folks at LaunchSquad decided to start a new kind of content marketing firm, Original9 Media....
Scoop.it!
‘A Call for Accountability’ in a Competitive PR Market...
The role of PR has expanded over the years. The means for measurement and data analysis, though still a work in progress, have improved. Companies depend increasingly on public relations activities for building their businesses. As a result, PR has a greater responsibility to be accountable in ways that speak to a business’ bottom line....
Scoop.it!
In this episode of “Cubes,” we tour the offices of Lippe Taylor, an award-winning PR agency that specializes in marketing to women.
Located just off Manhattan’s Union Square, Lippe Taylor HQ has a plush, homey vibe. The loft-like space contains a paper note chandelier, a sample closet brimming with beauty products, an in-house art department, and a “Privé” room for private phone calls (and private romances), plus many more cool features....
Scoop.it!
This past week, I was filling out PRWeek's annual ranking for PR firms and thought to myself, if there were a couple of things I would love the world to know about public relations, what would they be? So I determined to share with the world the five confessions from inside a top national public relations firm....
Scoop.it!
Let’s wrap up this series on “Designing An Effective Agency Training Program” with three points that I trust you’ll find valuable: “Build Support From Training Cheerleaders Throughout The Agency,” “Seek Participant Feedback Regularly And Modify The Program Accordingly,” and “Cultivate A Learning Environment.”...
Scoop.it!
Ok, so you’ve asked for and gotten a commitment for active support from the top (and if you’re the agency leader, you’ve committed to giving it), and done your research so that you can build the program around the agency’s strategic and professional development goals and client performance on agency feedback.
You’ve probably started to lay out an outline of key must-haves. You might even feel that you’re ready to go deep. Stop right there....
Scoop.it!
The Council just completed its Q4 survey of public relations firms, and the results are hot enough to warm even the chilliest January board meeting.
First thing’s first: A full 70% of firms report that final 2011 revenues will be higher than in 2010. Only 13% anticipate lower revenues. In the context of a still-uncertain overall economy, the council is projecting about 10% year-over-year industry growth. About half of our members experienced double-digit growth, figures consistent across all revenue categories....
Scoop.it!
With all the writing that has swirled around social media in recent years, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and also to assume that all the good, stimulating, provocative questions have already been asked. Yet judging from last week’s Critical Issues Forum, the discussion around social media is far from stale. Panelists, facilitators, and audience-members alike raised an impressive array of burning questions surrounding the use of Facebook, Twitter and the like by companies. These issues touched on the strategic and the theoretical; on political life as well as business implications. Taken together, they represent a coherent agenda for how to think creatively about social media for the next six to twelve months....
Scoop.it!
In the annals of 'no frigging clue why I'm in PR, this one is right up there...recounted uproariouslyby The Blogess...
|
Scoop.it!
When deciding whether to work with a new client, how do you tell if you should invoke the "Life's too short" rule?
That's the subject of this month's newsletter....
[Michael McLaughlin shares heartfelt advice any consultant can appreciate - JD]
Scoop.it!
I distinctly remember my first boss at Hill & Knowlton telling me Uniroyal was very late in paying its invoices and that I needed to collect the outstanding monies ASAP. ”This makes both of us look really bad to management,”...
But, before I could pick up the phone, my boss provided some additional counseling. “Come up with a list of day-to-day activities, provide Lynn with updates and, then, at the very end, apologize to her for having to even mention the subject of money, but ask if she'd mind checking on our invoices,” he suggested....
[Great financial tips for PR agencies and solo PR pros - JD]
Scoop.it!
There’s no such thing as a stupid questions, only stupid answers.
Faced with pressure to generate pageviews, content managers have gotten into the habit of being a mile wide and an inch deep in their coverage. Trading depth for breadth and playing to the lowest common cultural denominator. We have to, right? Because today’s content consumer is pressed for time and brain cells and will probably only scan your headline and your bolded keyphrases before they will largely blindly like, Tweet or pin your just-another-post-in-the-sea content. Except that that’s not true. Despite what people might say, society is not getting dumber, we’re getting smarter. We want better information faster....
Scoop.it!
Courtesy of Odwyer’s PR I learned today of a speech he [Lord Chadlington] recently gave at the Public Relations World Congress, and of characteristics he looks for in his senior employees and just had to share it....
Scoop.it!
While rummaging through my sock drawer the other day, I found myself unable to locate a clean, matched pair. I asked my wife if there might be any in the wash. She responded by telling me to check the mismatched sock pile in the laundry room.
The name triggered a Pavlovian response, and I was immediately transported back in time to a major new business pitch we were making.
We were up against some major players and challenged by the prospect to present “ideas that would get an agency fired.” As you might expect, we soon found ourselves struggling to formulate three truly innovative (and agency firing worthy) suggestions....
Scoop.it!
I recently stumbled across an interesting article on Raintoday.com, a website aimed at sales professionals. Written by Colleen Francis, and entitled, 'What to do when your prospect or client goes silent,' the piece lists a number of reasons why aprospective client may be ignoring your follow-up calls as well as strategies for dealing with the silence.
While there's nothing particularly revolutionary about her advice, I did like the author's three call, follow-up strategy for dealing with an unresponsive prospect...
Scoop.it!
We did pretty well at a leading PR industry awards program last week. Of the six programs we submitted for judging, two were named finalists. And, of those two, one won an award. So, if this particular awards' program embraced transparency, they'd have listed Peppercom's batting average as follows: .333 (for programs nominated)
Sadly, there isn't ANY transparency in ANY industry awards program. And, that's a shame because, as last week's event made clear to anyone in attendance, the large agencies TOTALLY dominate the proceedings....
Scoop.it!
Facebook’s coming IPO has shone a spotlight on the financial upside of social media, but it’s important to keep in mind how much potential social platforms hold for serving the public good. Social media is helping advance the mission of non-profit organizations across a broad range of issues.
In fact, nonprofits account for some of our industry’s most successful and impactful social programs that serve to elevate visibility, advance messaging across a broad range of constituencies, and assist with fundraising....
Scoop.it!
Whichever training courses you choose to offer, remember that in addition to the specific skills your team will gain, a training program is a chance to share three important things... quality standards, company "artificial intelligence" and agency vision/culture...
[Great PR agency advice from Ken Jacobs - JD]
Scoop.it!
What should growing public relations firms do to manage their success most effectively? We queried three executives who have experienced growth first hand—Brandon Edwards, President of Revive Public Relations; Mark Eber, President and Partner of IMRE; and Matthew J. Harrington, CEO of Edelman U.S.—and compiled the following five tips...
Scoop.it!
Independent communications firms worldwide are starting off the year in better business shape than 2011, according to recent results announced today from a Worldcom Public Relations Group (Worldcom) survey. As the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations firms, Worldcom reported most partner agencies polled, forecast hiring new staff and have already experienced an increase in business and budgets as they begin the new year....
Scoop.it!
The past few months have witnessed increased media interest in the motivations of public relations professionals when it comes to accepting consulting opportunities with governments whose actions are, at best, questionable.
The focus has been primarily aimed at the former Libyan government’s ham-handed efforts to spruce up its image while it was under the control of deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi....
|
