Writing and marketing customer success stories is a frequently used PR tactic and has many applications: Sales people use them to show competency and offer third-party endorsement to potential clients; reporters love the real-world story of how your product or service is used; the content is great online and in marketing slicks, and is easily edited to apply for awards or for other publicity purposes.
Let’s talk business: Is yours prepared to handle an emergency?
This weekend marked one of the strongest – if not the strongest – storms ever to have taken place on earth: Super Typhoon Haiyan, with surges as high as trees and wind gust reaching 175 miles per hour ravaging the Phillipines. An estimated 10,000 are thought to have perished.
How Good Messaging Is Like Convincing An American To Eat Escargot
When I was 13 I took French at school. My teacher was a whiz at teaching the language but was also invested in teaching us French culture. We had lessons on the significance of la bise (the kiss on the cheek upon greeting a friend) and how to greet someone properly based on their relationship to you, we learned about stained glass and flying buttresses, we learned about the difference between Santa Clause and Père Noel.
Five LinkedIn Strategies You Haven’t Thought Of Before
Last week a client asked if I could stay for a bit after our weekly meeting so he could thank me, not for a PR project, but to show me how he’d used a tactic I’d shown him on LinkedIn to put himself well on the track of securing a much more aggressive marketing budget next year. Wow!
How To Pitch To The Press: The 8 No-Fail Strategies
In my day job I’m an entrepreneur, as the founder of a leading PR strategy agency, Snapp Conner PR. But I’m also a frequent speaker on communications and business topics, and as a Forbes contributor, a writer and journalist as well.
Be a Better Salesperson, ahem, PR Professional
The old adage is that “we’re all in sales.” Truly, in public relations we are selling a story. Hopefully, the story is so good that it “practically sells itself,” – another sales adage. But sometimes our behaviors can give us an advantage.
How To Respond to Negative Reviews or Comments on a Blog
My in-laws built and manage a bed & breakfast on a beautiful lake in northern California. With input from family members who know web design and marketing (myself included), they’ve done a nice job promoting the B & B, creating their own website and managing social media such as Facebook and travel and review websites such as Trip Advisor and Yelp.
New Report: Mainstream Media #1 Source Of Content Online Marketers Share
In an exclusive to Forbes, online marketing company Leadtail, in conjunction with DNN Software, has provided me with an early look at the new B2B Insights report on Online Marketers the company will issue on Monday, Sept. 30, from Leadtail.com. I covered Leadtail’s Q2 report on Digital Marketers here.
Are You Prepared? Record Number Of Cyber Attacks Target Small Business
If you think your business is too small to be an attractive target for cyber criminals or you don’t have anything worth stealing, think again: The 2012 Data Breach Investigations Study by Verizon shows that in 855 data breaches they examined, 71 percent occurred in businesses with fewer than 100 employees.
Any Press is Good Press, Right? For Miley Cyrus It Is
A few weeks back, I watched one of my daughters’ favorite dance teachers, Dana Wilson, dance with Justin Timberlake at the VMA Awards. They were on fire – and my young girls (13 and 11) and I were beyond thrilled to see Dana on stage, doing what she loved.
In Defense of PR
Vladimir Putin’s op-ed in The New York Times on Thursday spurred plenty of commentary and response. One thread is questioning the potential ethics of such an article and the PR firm representing Putin is taking some of the fallout. Who actually wrote it? How much is Putin getting paid? Why would The New York Times publish lies? Aren’t they “aiding and abetting a long-term foe of the United States?”
Learn Forex Trading at Apiary Fund Summit
Every year, Apiary Fund (www.apiaryfund.com) conducts two Apiary Fund Summits in Sandy, Utah. The Summit (www.apiaryfundsummit.com) is always on weekdays instead of weekends so that live Forex trading can be conducted during trading hours. The Fall Summit is Sept. 2-4.