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.
Acumatica, the world’s fastest-growing cloud ERP company, opened its 2020 Summit to record-breaking attendance in Las Vegas last week with more than 2,500 customer, partner, media and analyst participants. Following multi-platinum icon Lizzo’s New Year’s Eve show at The Chelsea concert venue at The Cosmopolitan, Acumatica CEO Jon Roskill packed the same venue for the Summit keynote – don’t underestimate a tech event, people! This is more than a conference, it’s an experience.
The company celebrated its customer-centric culture highlighting customer of the year awards, product announcements and live demonstrations, an acquisition that is already shaking up the industry, and noteworthy partnerships and integrations, including but not limited to:
- The improvement of Acumatica Manufacturing Edition, enabled by the acquisition of JAAS Systems, a complete end-to-end manufacturing solution for make-to-stock, make-to-order, engineer-to-order, project-centric, job shop, batch and repetitive manufacturing companies.
- The release of a new Payroll module as part of Acumatica 2020R1, followed by an exclusive CFMA offer for prospective customers of Acumatica Construction Edition.
- A strategic alliance with BDO, the international network of public accounting, tax, consulting and business advisory firms, to serve midmarket customers with exceptionally complex needs, large national or international requirements, and companies that value independence in their ERP selection or implementation process.
- New integrations with Smartsheet and Adobe Document Cloud.
- Customer of the Year Power Storage Solutions, an innovative power solution provider. Formed when Interstate Batteries spun off some divisions, the newly born company needed to extract data and processes from six solutions. It was able to combine them within a single Acumatica instance in a very short timescale. The company has now been live on their new system a little over a year.
- Impact Customer of the Year Food Maven, selected for its socially conscious approach to bringing agility and flexibility to the U.S. food system.
A clear through line in Acumatica’s unique approach and reflected throughout the resulting coverage below is the company’s commitment to customer-friendly business practices.
“Acumatica is dedicated to helping our customers achieve digital transformation, said Acumatica CEO Jon Roskill. “The ways in which Cloud ERP technology can streamline operations and improve business efficiency are nothing short of exceptional, and Acumatica’s product is second to none.”
Customer-friendly business practices are not new for Acumatica. In fact, Roskill sees such a void in a customer-centric approach in the industry that he issued a challenge to other cloud ERP software vendors to fix their unscrupulous business practices. He believes customers should not have to lose sleep over additional costs limiting their growth.
Communiqué PR had the opportunity to drive the media strategy and offer some of the top-tier industry publications a sneak peek at the announcements slated for Summit in advance. Below, we’ve included highlights of the coverage that resulted from Summit, with additional articles pending publication.
- Cleo becomes Acumatica certified – KMWorld, Jan. 27
- Acumatica Buys JAAS Software – ERP Global Insights, Jan. 27
- Acumatica 2020 R1: First Take from the Day 1 Keynote – Crestwood.com, Jan. 27
- Acumatica talks at Summit – Enterprise Times, Jan. 28
- Cleo adds Acumatica ERP to integration cloud – Enterprise Times, Jan. 28
- Acumatica Summit 2020 first take – Hartzell Construction on how modern construction ERP changed their business – diginomica, Jan. 28
- Acumatica Summit 2020 – with great growth comes great responsibility – diginomica, Jan. 29
- Acumatica introduces new payroll module and more at annual summit – Accounting Today, Jan. 29
- Acumatica cloud ERP tightens focus on SMB market – TechTarget, Jan. 30
- This is what happens when an ERP vendor listens to customers – ITWeb, Feb. 3
- Enterprise hits and misses – Data Privacy Day gets breached, and IBM places its leadership bet – diginomica, Feb. 3
- Sponsoring Acumatica Summit 2020 – DCKAP, Feb. 3
- Enterprise Software Podcast Episode 110 – Acumatica Summit 2020 (Part 1) – Enterprise Software Podcast, Feb. 3
- Acumatica Summit 2020 highlight – how customer award winner Power Storage Solutions sparked a best-of-breed debate – diginomica, Feb. 3
The recent Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China has left many people on edge about public health and glued to their TVs, tablets and smartphones for constant updates on the management of the new respiratory virus.
There is always fear and intrigue around illnesses that the public hasn’t seen before. As the number of reported cases of infection rises around the world, many are actively trying to stay informed to adopt best practices for avoiding the spread of the disease.
Several prominent news organizations have taken to live blogging – an effective approach that can be useful for keeping any audience informed – to provide real-time updates on coronavirus developments and inform the public. Here are a few takeaways on how the live blogs of three national outlets compare.
CNN
For those without a news subscription and looking for free updates, CNN.com is the place to go. CNN’s real-time blog coverage of coronavirus dates back to the evening of Jan. 29, with nearly three updates offered per hour. The blog provides a running tally of total cases – more than 8,000 to date – as well as the total number of coronavirus-related deaths and a list of countries where the coronavirus cases and deaths have been reported. This is a very simple yet essential snapshot for readers looking for a quick overview.
CNN also provides a map tracking coronavirus in real time and a graphic listing common symptoms and potential complications. Readers can see how long it’s been since each post has published, though the timestamps don’t include the publication date. Still, for the comprehensive overviews and visual elements alone, this live blog is reliable and incredibly useful for readers looking to quickly bring themselves up to speed on coronavirus news. It serves well as a one-stop shop.
The New York Times
The New York Times also provides a live blog on coronavirus news, though with a lower quantity of updates than some of its competitors, with some 13 posts on Jan. 30. Registration is required to access this blog, but after doing so, users can access it as one of their five free articles per month. Right at the top, the blog features a “Here’s what you need to know” overview that outlines the primary points of interest around this news. The New York Times blog is unique in the fact that readers are given the option to read the updates in Chinese, which given the origin of the virus and where the most people are affected, couldn’t be more appropriate.
Like CNN, The New York Times offers a map tracking the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. However, while this blog offers many photos accompanying each update, it lacks visual elements like infographics to distill some of the critical details around this news and help readers quickly absorb important information. Also, the blog updates aren’t timestamped, so readers are unable to tell when specifically each update was published, though related news articles at the bottom of the page date back to Jan. 29.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post does an admirable job providing real-time updates on coronavirus developments, offering readers approximately two updates per hour. As with The New York Times, registration is required to access WaPo’s live blog, so readers must use one of their three free articles per month to reach it. The live blog offers an overview with bulleted highlights at the top of the page and a “What you need to know about coronavirus” breakout box at the bottom of the page, which includes a map of the spread of coronavirus and an FAQ of the disease. Though if you’re not a paying subscriber, one must be mindful of where you click to not lose access to your limited free articles.
Like CNN’s blog, each blog post is timestamped, and even though they don’t include the publication date, readers can see that the blog updates date back to the afternoon of Jan. 29. When it comes to visual elements, WaPo’s blog offers compelling photos and news videos for several posts but is lacking when it comes to infographics. It is a solid blog overall but infinitely more useful for paying subscribers.
These aren’t the only three news outlets providing real-time coverage of coronavirus, but they are among the most prominent. While there were similarities between each outlet’s live blog, no two were identical. Each had their own approach to coverage and unique blend of aggregated stories.
For the reader, identifying the most ideal live blog ultimately comes down to 1) whether you are a paying customer and 2) what you hope to get from your news blog. All three of the listed outlets do an exceptional job of providing real-time news updates about a serious public health issue that’s captivating a global audience. There’s no shortage of breaking news – just remember to refresh!
Last year, I had the opportunity to fly to New York City and meet with industry professionals on the cutting edge of PR. One of our stops was to Weber Shandwick. During my visit at the firm, I heard from Chris Kooluris, who shared several campaigns he’d worked on over the years spanning from VitaminWater’s $100,000 challenge to give up your smartphone to Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse cruise with Royal Caribbean. It was like sitting at the feet of marketing royalty. And for a senior in college, hungry for experience in the field, I was on the edge of my seat.
He then pulled up a photo of a blue and orange fridge wrapped in a chain and padlocked. Dozens of images of the fridge flashed across my memory – I had seen this fridge everywhere on social media mere months before. We’d even discussed it in one of my public relations classes at school. For someone who doesn’t watch football or drink beer, my fascination with Bud Light’s Victory Fridge campaign is baffling even for me. Perhaps it’s the simplicity at the heart of it all that has secured its place as my favorite campaign to date.
If you’re unsure of what a Victory Fridge is, look no further as I revisit below Bud Light’s simple yet innovative marketing campaign and highlight key takeaways that can be applied to any PR push.
In January 2017, Bud Light sales were stuck in a rut. Despite the smash success of its “Dilly Dilly” campaign, the nation’s biggest beer brand suffered its largest annual volume decline ever in 2017, dropping 5.7 percent. With one of Bud Light’s highest-profile marketing assets (the NFL) approaching its annual climax (the Super Bowl), Bud Light was hopeful its sales would turn around. However, not even being dubbed the official beer of the NFL was saving them. Bud Light knew it needed to try something different.
Enter the Cleveland Browns.
In 2018, Bud Light (in partnership with its PR, marketing and advertising firms) decided that it would give away free beer in Cleveland, but only if the Browns won. It’s important to note that the Cleveland Browns had been the worst team in the NFL for years, at the time only winning one game in the previous two years. Any victory would’ve been monumental to long-suffering Browns fans.
To make the potential win a little sweeter, Bud Light installed “Victory Fridges” in 10 Cleveland-area bars and FirstEnergy Stadium. The fridges were to unlock simultaneously when the Browns won, allowing fans to celebrate with 200 free beers per venue.
News of the fridges spread like wildfire.
Everyone from Forbes to USA Today to Sports Illustrated covered the fridges. #VictoryFridge trended on Twitter. Fans posted the fridges on social media, garnering mass amounts of free, earned media coverage.
Then, after a 635-day losing streak, the Browns beat the Jets. Sweet victory.
Victory Fridges across Cleveland opened, and Browns fans celebrated together by drinking the free Bud Light their team had earned. While there are multiple ways to measure the value of Bud Light’s press coverage, speculation on Twitter from ESPN’s Darren Rovell said the night of the Browns’ victory alone was worth nearly $7 million in publicity, according to one third-party source. Weber Shandwick estimates over 2 billion impressions resulted from the campaign.
Key takeaways:
- Join cultural moments
- Create and magnify relationships
- Let your audience do the talking
- Place your product, client or message at the center
- Keep it simple
Of the campaign, Miles Ritenour, communications manager at Bud Light said, “We felt really good about the idea because of its simplicity and authenticity. The Browns’ record was already a major topic of conversation going into the season, and no brand had really seized the opportunity. The Victory Fridge did just that with a simple execution—fridges that unlocked when the Browns got their first win. It was easy to understand, built on a cultural insight, gave the people a role, and our product was at the center of it all.”
I recently came across an article in Harvard Business Review titled, “The Loyalty Economy,” in which the author describes the importance of customer value and explains why customer loyalty is in the best interest of shareholders and management. It’s well known that maintaining a healthy, loyal customer base is significantly less costly and time-intensive than finding and securing new customers. However, as we fixate on growth and obtaining new customers, it can be easy to lose sight of existing business and its value.
This article reminded me of a statistic our team was shown in a recent review of our performance in 2019. When reviewing our list of clients, we also looked at the span of our relationships with each business. The numbers impressed me. Most of our clients have been with the firm for four or five years and one that has even been with Communiqué PR since its founding 15 years ago.
Clients with compelling and impactful stories are what lead to our success. Positive relationships are a key element to our ability to deliver excellent work. When you’ve worked with a client for years you tend to find a rhythm that makes the relationship easy, but it’s important to continue to find ways to invest in these partnerships and demonstrate a client’s value.
Constantly Win the Business
While getting in a rhythm with your clients can lead to efficiency, it can also lead to complacency. It’s important to remember to think creatively and suggest ideas that evolve with their business. As businesses grow and objectives mature, adapt the PR plan and make new recommendations. Clients are not obligated to stay, so it is important to continue to impress them with new ideas that excite them and demonstrate value.
Ask for Feedback
Feedback isn’t always easy to hear. But it isn’t always bad. The fact is, you’ll never know where you stand if you don’t ask. This doesn’t have to be a formal review of all the work ever done on their behalf but make it a point to ask how the client feels about the results of a specific project. However, you can make it a point to request feedback on your performance and their satisfaction with the firm. Not only will this highlight areas the account team can improve, it’ll also demonstrate commitment to providing the best service possible.
Find Time to Invest
This can mean a lot of things. And it will likely be different depending on the client. Taking time to invest in relationships, outside of email updates and talking shop, can demonstrate the client’s value to you and the firm. Investing in the relationship can mean taking the client out for drinks, sending over a congratulatory gift when a big milestone is achieved, or simply taking the time to get to know them and showing genuine interest in them as an individual. Small acts can go a long way in fostering a relationship.
Getting caught up in deadlines and day-to-day activity can make it easy to forget to dedicate the right attention to clients and our relationships with them. Not every day needs to be filled with grand gestures or over-the-top ideas, but make sure to set time aside to consider how to continuously add value to the client as well as demonstrate their value to the firm. Investing in this will be the key to long-lasting relationships.
Many of us work in environments that strive to promote collaboration, but have you ever stopped to think about the skills that collaboration demands?
This was the focus of Harvard Professor Francesca Gino’s recent work where she shares her findings in the article titled, “Cracking the Code of Sustained Collaboration: Six new tools for training people to work better together.” It can be found in the November-December 2019 issue of Harvard Business Review.
When building collaboration skills, she first recommends teaching people to listen. This is excellent advice and can help not only when collaborating with co-workers, but also with clients, vendors and partners.
One of my favorite business books is “Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone,” written by Mark Goulston. Over the years I’ve used it repeatedly. In addition to providing insight into the persuasion cycle and how listening impacts it, Goulston also includes a variety of questions that can be asked to overcome conflict, deepen relationships and improve empathy with others.
Speaking of empathy, the next suggestion from Gino is that to improve collaboration you must also “train people to practice empathy.” This often begins with self-examination or awareness of your mindset. She explains that when you’re working with others, if you’re judging them, you may begin to arrive at conclusions that can undermine collaboration.
For instance, you may think to yourself, this person isn’t very helpful or caring. Once you start down this path, communication can break down. Instead of judging, seek to understand the other person’s behavior, attitude or beliefs. In the full article, you’ll find ideas on how to do this.
The third tip surrounds feedback. For some of us, this is a loaded term, associated with shortcomings or things that need to be improved. However, according to Gino, “Good collaboration involves giving and receiving feedback well – and from a position of influence rather than authority.” She then goes on to describe the methods for improving feedback loops.
Fourth, to improve collaboration, you may want to “teach people to lead and follow.” As a leader, this can be challenging. When you have lots of experience or want something done a particular way, it can be difficult to cede control to others. However, while initially it might be uncomfortable, relinquishing control allows others to take ownership and share ideas that may not have otherwise surfaced.
The final tips involve the ability to speak with clarity and how to train people to have win-win interactions. Clearly, it’s much harder to collaborate if the other party doesn’t understand what you’re trying to say or why it’s important.
If interactions aren’t win-win, they often fail. In sales, it’s well known that if you want long-term success, deals need to be win-win. When achieved, this means satisfied customers, long-term relationships, repeat business and good referrals. To achieve win-win outcomes you often need to approach interactions or negotiations as partners and not adversaries. Gino reminds us that by investigating each other’s needs often the best outcome can be achieved.
If you want to learn more about these tips, how they’re mutually supportive and interdependent, I highly recommend reading Gino’s article. For more on her work, please check out my other blog: “Rebel with a Cause or Just Good Leadership.”
When I first came across this New York Times (NYT) article, What Your Email Signature Says About You, I immediately categorized it as a clickbait story. Upon further review I discovered there was much more behind it.
While I personally refrain from adding quotes, jokes, scriptures, social media links or other items – and quite frankly discount lengthy and promotional email signatures that take up valuable space – I discovered I may be overlooking an opportunity to build rapport, display personality and promote myself, within reason.
However, when it comes to professional emails I tend to draw a more conservative line. Perhaps I could learn to live a little more by way of my email signature but I certainly do not agree with overloading the reader with unnecessary information or links that take away from the intent of the message, including emojis, awards, links to books or anything else you’re selling other than your ideas.
Regardless of preference, David Austern, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at N.Y.U. Langone Health, affirms that it’s normal to be nervous about writing emails and the potential misperception of the intended tone. Austern reminds us of the nature of our approach, in that we quickly craft emails from behind our laptops and mobile screens, distracted by myriad things happening around us. All the while, these messages have high stakes.
The article summarizes Austern’s guidance and likens our internal thought process to the following: “We want or need something; we’re creating a digital footprint we hope will stand in for the real thing — ourselves. So how do you do it better? (And if someone hates your signature, do they hate you, too?).”
Considering that so much of business and personal communications are happening by way of emails, and other digital platforms, and that most people refrain from showing too much personality over email by risk of it being perceived inaccurately, myself included, it makes it difficult to get a sense of the person on the other side.
Like most things in life, balance is key. The NYT article illustrates a few different takes on how you can use your signature to benefit your career. One of the most common, and nonintrusive, approaches is the “sent from my iPhone” disclaimer. Research shows people are more forgiving of typos when this is included. Some of the clever plays on this generic message mentioned in the article include, “Sent from the road on a tiny robot,” and “Sent from an undisclosed location.”
To embrace this new frontier of opportunity, the one approach I saw in the article that I considered entertaining is connected to personal values. I am a firm believer of work-life balance, and I am very fortunate to work for a company that recognizes the value in this. This is why the example in the article about TV producer Shonda Rhimes resonates with me: “Please Note: I will not engage in work emails after 7 p.m. or on weekends. IF I AM YOUR BOSS, MAY I SUGGEST: PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE.”
It’s incredibly powerful. As Samantha Ettus, founder and CEO of Park Place Payments, reflected, “She’s setting the tone for work-life balance in her organization. It’s an opportunity to say, ‘This is how I manage my busy life, and you can do it, too.’”
Let us all take a page out of Rhimes’ book and embrace the idea of expressing more personality in our emails – you never know what doors it could open. Or at least, dip your toe in the water and try one of the ideas included in the NYT article.