Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Each year, Communiqué PR hosts a visit from Professor Fearn-Banks’ Communication 444 Public Relations and Society class. It is a very fun time for us as we get to talk to the next generation of PR professionals about the work we do.
This year, six students visited our boutique PR firm. We focused our discussion on the history of the firm, the difference between a large firm and a boutique agency, and provided them with tips on how to find their first internship and job in public relations.
We applaud professor Fearn-Banks for incorporating office visits into her curriculum as we believe they’re really helpful to students as they work to gain insight into what they should expect should they decide to pursue a career in public relations.
We also are big fans of Kathleen Fearn-Banks’ book on crisis communications. Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach is a good read for the PR professional wishing to stay current on best practices in this area.
In July 2009, Communiqué PR began working with Aveso Displays, a developer of printed electronic displays for the credit and security card industry. The company’s solution can be used for One Time Password (OTP) technology. For those of you who are not familiar with OTP technology, it is often used by large enterprise companies or financial institutions to prevent fraud.
When I was working for AOL about ten years ago, the company gave us all security fobs (tokens) which issued a new digital password every sixty seconds. We wore these tokens on lanyards around our neck and when we needed to log into the corporate network, we were required to enter in the numbers so we could gain access.
OTP has proven to be a very effective solution, but Aveso Displays is making it even better. The company has figured out a way to put these electronic displays on laminated cards; so instead of wearing a lanyard, employees will get an OTP card which will fit in their wallets.
Communiqué PR is charted with driving awareness of Aveso Displays’ technology with credit card manufacturers, financial institutions, security platform providers and industry analysts. It is an exciting assignment and we look forward to keeping you in the loop on our progress.
We thought you’d be interested in our recent results for OnRequest Images, the leading provider of powerful, custom photography services for the Global 2000. In the past several months, we have placed and written the following byline articles on behalf of CEO Carla Stratfold. These articles can be a fabulous way to establish thought leadership.
1. Atlanta Journal Constitution – “Good images create a great image: Photos gain key role in branding”
2. Atlanta Journal Constitution – “Creativity is critical today to outsmart the competition”
3. Entrepreneur Magazine – “Beware the Mobile Rogue”
4. Media Post’s Marketing Daily – “Establishing an Iconic Brand”
5. AMA Marketing News Blog – “Getting the Most for Your Photo Bucks”
6. AMA Marketing News Blog – “Creating Brands that Stand the Test of Time”
7. AMA Marketing News Blog – “Fundamentals of Brand Resonance”
8. The Advertiser – “Image is Everything”
If you’re interested in learning more about byline article placement, please feel free to call us. We’d love to provide you with counsel or assistance as you pursue the right results for your company.
Pizza lovers rejoice – Pizza Hut recently launched a new iPhone application that will let you order your Friday night takeout directly from your phone. The free application, which launched in mid-July, has already received more than 100,000 downloads on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Pizza Hut, with more than 13,000 outlets in nearly 100 countries worldwide, has found a way to use mobile technology to make ordering pizza easier for its customers. According to Advertising Age, Pizza Hut’s application is the first of its kind in the pizza category.
The new application has earned positive feedback from Web sites including Mobilewhack.com, TechCrunch.com and ReadWriteWeb.com. TechCrunch.com’s review said, “It includes a so-called ëvirtual fridge’ where you’ll find coupons to add to your order and a free game called ëPizza Hut Racer’ that you can play while you kill time waiting for your food to arrive.”
Pizza Hut not only was the first in its category to provide a mobile application, but the company also allows customers to place orders online and through text messaging. They even have a Facebook profile where fans can place orders and hear about the latest pizza updates.
While the Pizza Hut application is currently free, this example illustrates how businesses can leverage mobile applications and social media sites like Facebook to increase revenue and streamline processes for customers. The mobile application market is hot right now and branded mobile applications offer a new way for organizations and groups to directly engage with customers and other key audiences. We anticipate seeing a tidal wave of these types of applications in the coming year; and with the anticipated arrival of Windows Marketplace for Mobile, the mobile app space should continue to be an interesting one.
AdAge recently published an article about a report from VMS, a news-monitoring service, which claims that Twitter has received nearly three billion impressions in the past month. According to the report, these impressions are worth nearly $48 million.
There has undoubtedly been a lot of hype about Twitter. It has made its appearance on CNN, Entertainment Tonight and countless other broadcast segments, and has also been featured in numerous print publications. In fact, according to the VMS report, the following outlets have contributed to the PR value of these impressions:
Television: 57%
Newspapers: 37%
Magazines: 5%
However, many bloggers such as TechCrunch and Scobliezer have pointed out, these impressions have not made a significant impact on Twitter’s business or proved that Twitter is a “strong business like Google, Microsoft, HP, Yahoo or even Facebook.”
Erica Iacono with PRWeek published a rebuttal to the AdAge article about the PR value of Twitter’s media impressions. Erica questions VMS’ method of coming up with the $48 million figure and opines, “it’s likely VMS used some kind of ad value equivalency model which ultimately compares editorial and advertising, two things that are vastly different from each other.” She concludes, “Applying a dollar value to media coverage doesn’t take into account whether the PR efforts met any of the company’s business goals.”
There are many techniques for measuring the value of PR including measuring media impressions, ad value equivalency, return on media impact, return on influencers and share of voice.
While there is no magic bullet when it comes to evaluating PR results, it’s important to work closely with your client or executive team to determine what success looks like and how it impacts an organization’s business objectives.
Twitter users can now broadcast themselves live using a new service called Twitcam. The service, introduced by Livestream, provides users with an opportunity to add live streaming video to their Twitter feed and host live chats.
In a press release by Livestream, the company said, “Twitter-centric services for sharing photos and videos have been exploding and are in high demand by Twitter users. Twitcam fills the application void for those wanting to stream live and chat with their followers with a single click.”
Livestream is right. There has been an explosion of new Twitter services for users to get more out of their Twitter experience. From Twitthis, a service which allows people to send Twitter messages about a blog post or Web site, to Twitpic, a site that lets you share photos on Twitter, users have more options to interact on Twitter (check out Mashable.com’s Twittermania blog to see a comprehensive list of Twitter tools).
But what we really like about Twitcam is how easy it is to use. Twitter users simply visit the Web site, log on using their Twitter username and password and click on the ëlive’ button. Livestream’s Twitcam automatically detects the users’ webcam, generates a page and live video player, and posts the link in your Twitter feed.
Twitcam has received numerous reviews including positive feedback from technology bloggers and Web sites such as CNET and Mashable.com. Ben Parr with Mashable.com compliments the service saying the concept is simple, but solid. Twitcam is a great example of how companies are leveraging the power of social media sites such as Twitter to provide organizations with the tools they need to interact and engage with audiences in these mediums.
As organizations continue to incorporate interactive marketing strategies into their marketing plans, (see our recent blog post, “Interactive Marketing Proves More Effective Than Advertising“) Web sites such as Twitcam are well positioned to offer brand managers new, creative ways to interact with Twitter followers. From a PR perspective, Twitcam offers a variety of inexpensive tools to facilitate a press conference, conduct an audit with consumers to determine their perspective on a new product or service, and can be used to secure user testimonials for marketing materials.
With the continued explosion of social media Web services like Twitcam, it will be exciting to see what other services launch and how the way consumers interact with social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook continually evolves.