by Michael Kling | Dec 24, 2020 | Marketing
While PR and marketing professionals may already have their hands full with social media networks, those who promote small and medium local businesses might benefit from Nextdoor. Nextdoor offers a unique approach to social media networking. Really. Facebook aims to...
by Michael Kling | Dec 23, 2020 | Influencer Marketing
The Covid-19 recession of 2020 devastated marketing and advertising spending. Influencing marketing budgets were not immune. Especially hard hit were brands in travel and hospitality, a popular influencer topic. Yet influencer marketing proved resilient and in some...
by William Comcowich | Dec 22, 2020 | Media Relations
While Covid-19 accelerated the trend to remote interviews on Zoom, the underlying basics of successful media interviews remain unchanged. It’s still incumbent on communications professionals to prepare and train business executives and subject matter experts for...
by Arthur Solomon | Dec 22, 2020 | Guest Post
There have been a bevy of major PR blunders in 2020, some of them carryovers from previous years, like Boeing and Wells Fargo. There have also been new minor ones, like Major League Baseball’s sign stealing scandal. The Biggest Blunder Trophy, if there was one, goes...
by William Comcowich | Dec 21, 2020 | Public Relations
As the quarterly earnings season approaches, public relations teams will become busy drafting press releases, preparing executives for interviews and contacting reporters. Winning media mentions from earnings releases has become more challenging than ever. Media...
by William Comcowich | Dec 21, 2020 | Public Relations
Convincing employees to accept Covid-19 vaccinations may become the most critical internal communications task of 2021. In a herculean effort, pharmaceutical companies will soon distribute vaccines to the public. Medical experts say 75% of the public must be...
by William Comcowich | Dec 18, 2020 | Public Relations
Your positioning statement creates the foundation for all your organization’s communications across all media. It provides focus and direction and ensures that content is consistent. Without a positioning statement, PR can resemble a person groping aimlessly in the...
by William Comcowich | Dec 17, 2020 | Crisis Management
The recent data security breaches of multiple federal agencies highlight the ongoing threat of cyber attacks and breaches. Hackers with suspected ties to Russia gained access to government systems through third-party vendor SolarWinds. Up to 18,000 SolarWinds...
by William Comcowich | Dec 16, 2020 | Media Monitoring
Although more companies and nonprofit organizations now use media monitoring and measurement, many don’t gain its full benefits. Not following recommended best practices when setting up search parameters or analyzing results can produce confusing results or bog down...
by Sergey Aliokhin | Dec 16, 2020 | SEO
Everyone wants to create content that ranks high on Google’s search results for specific keywords. By producing such content, you’ll get more traffic to your site, and the more traffic you get, the more people will see the service or product you offer. But...
by Michael Kling | Dec 15, 2020 | Marketing
Will PR and marketing personnel soon return to their offices? Should they? And do they want to? Surveys reveal that most – but not all – PR and marketing staff members believe they’re more productive working from home and prefer to continue WFH arrangements....
by Michael Kling | Dec 14, 2020 | Public Relations
No one predicted the abrupt disruption 2020 would bring when they delivered their annual predictions a year ago. That’s not stopping anyone from issuing 2021 predictions for PR and marketing. These are the top 2021 predictions for PR and marketing. Social...
by William Comcowich | Dec 11, 2020 | Public Relations
Forget The New York Times. Send news to niche publications instead. Clients and top company executives typically want large, national publications to mention their company. They dream of a feature story on their company in The New York Times. For companies in many...
by Arthur Solomon | Dec 10, 2020 | Public Relations
This is the third year since I inaugurated the “Things That Really Matter Awards, for Good Guys Who Did Things to Benefit Society.” (Before the political correctness police and feminists jump all over me, a Merriam-Webster definition of “guy” is, “person — used in...
by William Comcowich | Dec 9, 2020 | Social Media
Employee social media posting remains a perplexing issue for many organizations. Some fear their employees may post ill-advised, embarrassing, or confidential information. Some encourage employees to mention their company and strive to transform employees into social...
by Michael Kling | Dec 8, 2020 | Crisis Management
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared the Boeing 737 Max to fly again, but can Boeing’s reputation soar again? Boeing’s reputation crashed when a 737 Max jet crashed in Indonesia in late 2018, killing all aboard, then another 737 Max aircraft...
by Michael Kling | Dec 8, 2020 | Social Media Marketing
A recent nationwide story about the paint-mixing videos of a part-time paint store employee offers some valuable lessons about how not to manage employee advocates on social media. Tony Piloseno, a senior at Ohio University who worked part-time at a Sherwin-Williams...
by William Comcowich | Dec 7, 2020 | Media Measurement
PR departments and agencies have long used media monitoring and media measurement services to manage corporate reputation, handle PR crisis, and assess the impact and value of public relations activities. Now, more companies and non-profit organizations are using...
by William Comcowich | Dec 4, 2020 | Public Relations
Many PR and marketing veterans say joint press releases offer outsized publicity that a firm seldom can obtain on its own. Both companies gain increased exposure through the partner’s distribution channels. If both partners are reputable, both gain access to new leads...
by Michael Kling | Dec 3, 2020 | Internal Communications
Already ubiquitous in online forums, emoji have spread into employee communications this year. With in-person contact either severely limited or completely eliminated, employees found connecting with colleagues extremely challenging during Covid-19 shut-downs. While...
