My career as a journalist spanned nearly a decade. When I left to launch online video startup, BizBOXTV, I quickly discovered storytelling was part of my DNA, evident in the process and style of my new media company and how it approached its first productions.
It wasn’t about story-boarding or scripting, it was about asking questions, getting answers, and weaving content together to produce an interesting and useful story. The benefits of combining the approaches of traditional journalism and brand storytelling seemed obvious. It’s something we’ve called “brand journalism” since day one, and it’s picking up speed as the new-media world continues to evolve, along with consumers’ habits.
Businesses are using social media, web video, and digital publishing to speak directly to consumers. It’s a way for brands, big and small, to use the approach of professional journalists to create, curate and share expert content in the form of blogs, articles and video. Brand journalism is obviously not as impartial as journalism, but it’s a way for a brand to engage an audience with relevant and interesting material. The content must be factual, and keep “relevance to... Read more
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Farewell ‘Push’ Marketing, Hello Brand Journalism
Tags: bizboxtv, blogging, boeing, brand journalism, calgary, canada, cisco, content creation, content marketing, corporate video, customer engagement, digital media, home depot, journalism, lisa ostrikoff, online video, online video production, PR, public relations, social engagement, Social Media, Storytelling, toronto, usa, video marketing, vlogs
Posted in Ad Serving, Creative Best Practices, Media Planning & Buying, Opinions, Social Media, Targeting, Uncategorized, Video | No Comments »
When Crisis Communications Bleeds Into Community Support
The recent battle of claims and data between Elon Musk/Tesla and the New York Times showcases a unique crisis communications situation. What's the best way to handle a crisis of "he said-they said" before it spirals out of control?
At some point in their career, every communications professional needs to handle at least a few crisis situations on behalf of a client. All things being relative - whether it’s a disaster like the BP oil spill, a trolling commenter on your brand’s Facebook page, or an executive giving out embargoed information too early – the way you initially respond will set the tone for everything that follows. It’s all about being prepared to the best degree, and then maintaining as much control as possible.
But in some cases, keeping a loose grip on that control and relying on trusted advocates to speak on your behalf can be more effective than any prepared statement.
An example of this recently played out between Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk and the New York Times. When Musk went on the attack against a negative review of the company’s East Coast charging station, first via social media, then by blog, and eventually (perpetually?) even further, his response quickly incited a crisis spiral.... Read more
Tags: b2b marketers, b2b marketing, b2c marketers, b2c marketing, crisis communications, crisis management, crisis public relations, elon musk, new york times, nytimes, PR, Social Media, tesla, twitter
Posted in Social Media, Word of Mouth | No Comments »
Seven Marketing Lessons From 007 Villains
Much has been written about the simple mistakes that Bond villains make in allowing the nominal spy to escape and foil their evil plans. But along with recommendations to overcome previous superspy-killing bungles, there are marketing lessons to be learned.
With the film franchise’s 50th anniversary and the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, out this week, there’s a lot of excitement around the legacy of everything Bond. Beyond the drinking, fighting, intrigue, women, gadgets, fast cars, and espionage, there are the villains. What purpose would Bond and MI6 have if it weren’t for the deviant masterminds of nuclear, drug-related and generally destructive plots?
Aside from their schemes, these criminals are often successful entrepreneurs or high profile public figures who are bona fide geniuses. Much has been written about the simple mistakes that Bond villains make in allowing the nominal spy to escape and foil their evil plans. But along with recommendations to overcome previous superspy-killing bungles, there are marketing lessons to be learned.
In that spirit, here are seven marketing tips from 007 bad guys that can apply to your brand.
Don’t give away your secrets to the competition: The classic Bond villain mistake. Things seem like they’re going in your favor, so why not have a... Read more
Tags: 007, b2b marketers, b2b marketing, b2c marketers, b2c marketing, bond villains, james bond, PR, public relations, skyfall, Social Media, social media marketing, social networks
Posted in Entertainment, Opinions, Social Media | No Comments »
Newsjack(ass)ing: PR Fail in the Wake of Tragedy and Crisis
Like what you read? Want to stay in touch? Follow me on Twitter: @amykauffman or shoot me an email at amy(at)hmgcreative.com
Tags: Amy Kauffman, bad PR, crisis communications, david meerman scott, HMG Creative, hubspot, hurricane sandy, mashable, newsjackassing, newsjacking, PR, PR fail, public relations
Posted in Ad Networks, Creative Best Practices, Opinions, Search, Social Media | 3 Comments »
Why We Fired Our Terrible PR Firm
I want to tell you a tale of sadness and woe. This story is about LogMyCalls firing our PR firm.
In December 2011, LogMyCalls entered Beta. Our goal was to ramp up the coverage we received during the Beta period in preparation for our hard launch in May 2012. We evaluated several PR firms to help us with this task. After a few weeks of checking recommendations, digging through proposals and gathering data, we made a decision. We settled on a PR firm that is well-respected and fairly well-known. They assured us that even though we were hardly their largest account, they would still work hard. We were excited about working with them and so we signed the contract.
5 months later we fired them because they failed.
In 5 months they generated zero placements and few analyst reviews. They were terrible. To spare their reputation I won't reveal their name.
Why Did We Decide to Fire Them?
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months without results. They just simply weren’t producing anything useful. No placements. No buzz. Nothing. We had recalibration meetings with them. We had frank, and honest discussions with them about how upset and frustrated we were. But still, nothing... Read more
Tags: analytics, call tracking, Internal Marketing, PR, public relations
Posted in Creative Best Practices, Media Planning & Buying, Opinions, Research, Web Analytics, Websites, Wireless | 12 Comments »
