Register for our New Keystone Business Development™ Webinar
When we talk to clients in the IT and Biotechnology industries, the most common question we are asked is “Can you help our company get to the next level?” What they are really asking is: “How can we boost our Business Development efforts?”
We have a great deal of expertise in creating Web2.0 PR campaigns that support Business Development initiatives. We build integrating campaigns that incorporate social networking for prospect list development, targeted emails, PPC campaigns, natural search engine optimization, content development, media relations, special landing pages and blogs, inbound linking, and webinars.
We have created a new one-hour webinar called Keystone Business Development™ that presents innovations in the application of Web2.0 PR to produce revenue momentum.
If you are interested in signing up for the webinar, then please provide your email address in the above Email Address box. You will receive an email with instructions on how to view and participate in the webinar.
I will be a course leader and keynote speaker at this event:
Profit from the publishing revolution Maximizing the Impact of Corporate BloggingSeptember 25 & 26, 2006, Toronto
COURSE HIGHLIGHTS
• The blog advantage • How to manage your blog and bloggers? • Measuring blog profitability and intangible results • Finding the right “voice” for your blog • Blogging and the law • How to choose a platform • Incorporating blogs into the marketing mix • How blogs can circumvent traditional media bans and rules • Managing blog use within your company • Do you need guidelines for internal blogging? • The future of blogging
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
In Harvard Business Review, Tuba Ustuner and David Godes point out that each stage of the sales cycle requires different social networks. .
Identify prospects: You need contacts who know different people in the target companies that would have an interest in the service you offer. Your contacts should know different people in lots of companies - not the same old gang of over contacted buddies. Ongoing networking is required over a broad playing field. If you are in sales or business development, consider a company approved personal blog. I am finding this blog very useful for rapidly expanding my network
Gain buy-in and upselling: You need contacts within a target firm who will invest time educating you on the company and introduce you to others in the organization who can be of help. This prospect network involves fewer people but with stronger ties. For upselling you need to find internal brokers who will provide contacts in their firm for further sales.
Create solutions: To land the account, you need to develop customized solutions. Try to mobilize a network of experts back in your own company who can work with the appropriate people in the target company - try to build an intraorganizational network.
Close: Call upon past clients who can act as references for decision makers. This takes precision to engage the correct person. Take care that they are not overused.
(New York, NY, June 26, 2006) -- JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, reveals that 35 percent of large companies plan to institute corporate Weblogs this year. Combined with the existing deployed base of 34 percent, nearly 70 percent of all site operators will have implemented corporate blogs by the end of 2006.
"Site operators should leverage existing Web content management best practices and functionality to decrease total cost of ownership, promote unified branding and increase site security," said Greg Dowling, Analyst at JupiterResearch and author of the report. "They can also realize considerable cost savings while mitigating deployment, management and maintenance concerns inherent in implementing additional stand-alone Weblog authoring systems."
The new research finds that Weblogs are underused for generating word-of-mouth (WoM) marketing opportunities. Only 32 percent of marketing executives said they use corporate Weblogs to generate WoM around their company's products or services.
"By engaging prospective customers in active dialogue, companies can showcase their expertise and domain knowledge, creating a forum for communication of their strategies and visions," said David Schatsky, President of JupiterKagan. "In doing so, companies can generate buzz around their products or services, while eliciting feedback and collaboration from product evangelists."
A survey published by Nora Ganim Barnes, from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Her report, Behind the Scenes in the Blogosphere (PDF format, 60 pages, 1.32 MB) suggests that blogs will make or break your business.
more..... a great quote by Rupert Murdoch
"To find something comparable, you have to go back 500 years to the printing press, the birth of mass media – which, incidentally, is what really destroyed the old world of kings and aristocracies. Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are taking control."
The expression “public relations” was first used by Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, back in 1802.
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 --- July 4, 1826) was the third (1801 --- 1809) President of the United States, second (1797) --- 1801) Vice President of the United States, and an American statesman, ambassador to France, political philosopher, revolutionary, agriculturalist, horticulturist, land owner, architect, archaeologist, slaveowner, author, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia.
Many people consider Jefferson to be among the most brilliant men ever to occupy the Presidency. President John F. Kennedy welcomed 49 Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962, saying, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Achievements of his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The greatest impact happens when PR is integrated with Business Development processes from the top of the "Sales Funnel" to the bottom - the close. We see PR as overwhelmingly a sales function.
Support Strategic Business Development with PR Public Relations works best in the context of specific, strategic campaigns-- tactically employing off line and on line media effectively. The greatest impact happens when PR is integrated with Business Development processes from the top of the "Sales Funnel" to the bottom - the close. We see PR as overwhelmingly a sales function.
A campaign supporting strategic business development efforts is the cornerstone of what works – it is more that just a pitch to the media, but contains the need to think beyond and know what the media will want and present the story to them in such a way that they will want to use our information and write an article.
Grounded in Research Great medical clinics balance research and clinical practise. We are increasingly a research-based firm. We study and conduct our own research to bring our clients best practises and innovation. This is perhaps our greatest strength. We are particularly interested in the links between: PR, Digital Publishing and Business Intelligence.
In our research projects for cients, we can get questions answered that the client can't by using original market research to gain new insight into the market place from the PR firm's unique position.
The Result - Getting Meaningful Ink The effort ensures that your story influences your key audiences, the people you need to reach. Getting your story out to the people that help you – the industry analysts, the trade media, the newspaper and magazine editors – and have them become your company's evangelists. It is about implementing that strategy with the best timing and resources to get "ink" in the quality press that companies desire and benefit from. Building smart relationships – building a network of media that will help the company achieve its objectives is the basis of PR success.
The result is revenue momentum; specialized communications models that anticipate a company's needs and helps leverage public relations as a strategic business advantage.
Ideas on Project Based Business Blogs - Instant Knowledge Management for the Rest of Us:
- Use simple blogs to management projects. - Use postings as a bulletin board. - Seek feedback for validation. - Spread the word on your project - post your pictures, powerpoints, ideas, status, progress, issues. - Post analyses and comments to give your project credibility. - Start “trackback” conversations. - Include articles and background material. - Tell the underlying story you want the media to cover on the public pages. - Invite team members to share sensitive information on password secure pages.
"A new medium arose, even one more powerful than broadcast, and its distribution economics favored infinite niches, not one-size-fits-all fare. The Internet's peer-to-peer architecture is optimized for a symmetrical traffic load, with as many senders as receivers and data transmissions spread out over geography and time. In other words, it is the opposite of broadcast.
Instead of the weak connection of the office cooler. we're increasingly forming our own tribes, groups bound together by affinity and shared interest....
These days our water coolers are increasingly virtual - there are many different ones, and the people who gather around them are self-selected."
From: The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson
Book Review on Powells: A fascinating and groundbreaking study of business culture in the same vein as Malcom Gladwell's famous Tipping Point. With clarity and wit Anderson proposes that for too long have we suffered under the tyranny of the lowest common denominator, and that, in fact, "niche" culture is alive and well and the basis of an entirely new economic model. May every CEO — of companies big or small, digital or brick-and-mortar — open their eyes to the Long Tail. Recommended by Gary, Powells.com
My friend David Bradfield is joining the New York office of Fleishman-Hillard to set up a new interactive, digital and social media group. Here is a recent comment from his blog:
"From my perspective, every PR agency that offers "full service" should be learning about this space and embracing new opportunities to reach the niches. Social media, or whatever you want to call it, is an integral element of the future of PR. It's a neccessity.
PR and communication professionals have specialized for decades in generating coverage in "uncontrollable" media and other venues through relationships with influencers such as journalists, analysts and opinion leaders. It takes a true professional to understand what will add value and create a unique angle or perspective that makes an organization/product/service contextually relevant, timely and reliable.
In the new communication climate, understanding who's who online, what they write/talk about and providing information that is useful and adds depth or variety to their perspectice is key to successful public relations."
Here is some new thinking on the evolution of the Press Release from a recent conference:
Write directly to your audience - including all key micro-segments – when appropriate. With the new approach, write one release (or “releaselet” — mini-release) for each audience using words and concepts they personally relate to.
Take advantage of research resources like Yahoo and Google keywords tools or Wordtracker to find out what terms people are searching for and integrate them into your “release.” Ensure that the way you structure your release and the keywords it contains are in alignment with what people are actually searching for.
Incorporate links back to content on your site, or add multimedia and RSS features to add richness to and extend the reach and life of your release.
Publish more often, take advantage of cheaper distribution channels like your own site, blog or services like PR Web.
I’d like to blog an exchange of emails between the two of us. Is that acceptable?Here are some initial questions:
How did you personally get involved with eTouch?
What is the real 10X value of your company and its offerings?
How do you facilitate thought leadership?
Regards,
Howard
From: Leonard Dorfman [mailto:ldorfman@etouch.net] Sent: July 5, 2006 5:27 PM To: 'Howard Oliver' Subject: RE: From Howard Oliver What If What Next - PR to Len Dorfman eTouch Systems
Hi Howard,
It’s great to hear that you like eTouch SamePage product. I appreciate your comments and thanks for including a link to us in your blog.
I look forward to chatting with you.
Regards,
Len
From: Howard Oliver [mailto:holiver@whatifwhatnext.com] Sent: Monday, July 03, 2006 3:05 PM To: ldorfman@etouch.net Subject: From Howard Oliver What If What Next - PR to Len Dorfman eTouch Systems
I was very taken with your offering and will be suggesting eTouch for a large client project we will be starting next week. I am also going to post a link to your site on my blog – http://prmeasure.blogware.com. I’d be interested to chat with you further after the July4 break.
Regards,
Howard Oliver
What If What Next – PR
416-638-8582
About eTouch Systems
eTouch Systems is a leading provider of content-centric solutions and services that help organizations of any size unlock the value of their information to achieve real business results. eTouch solutions enable thought-leading organizations leverage their information assets to improve productivity, reduce cost, and accelerate time-to-value. eTouch customers are a diverse set of industry and thought leaders, including NASA, Cisco Systems, Kaplan, and Johnson & Johnson.
eTouch Systems, eTouch SamePage, and all other eTouch Systems product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of eTouch Systems, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks herein are property of their respective owners.
have been asked to attend this event by Jagdish Yadav, Program and Commercialization Officer, Westen GTA Convergence Centre. Join us for an interesting event!
The Persian Royal Road was established by Persian kings, who set up way stations or caravanserai along the ancient Silk Road route across the Iranian Plateau.
A trade route is the sequence of pathways and stopping places used for the commercial transport of cargo. Trade routes can be land or water-based.
Which route was considered preferable (or not) for use by groups of merchants and their armed and logistical escort, depended on a number of background factors, including an overall political and economic situation in areas to be crossed, travellers' mode of transport, their navigation skills and knowledge of geography (and weather patterns), as well as on the actual ease, speed, safety and profitability of such journeys.
The English archaeologist Colin Renfrew and his colleagues first demonstrated that finds of obsidian, a black volcanic glass useful for sharp cutting edges before the Bronze Age, provided a uniquely sensitive indicator of Neolithic trade routes, because the trace-elements in obsidian are usually diagnostic of individual sources [1].
The first documented long-distance networks of caravan routes and shipping routes have been established approximately 4,000 BCE between the early-urban settlements in lowland Mesopotamia (southern Iraq). The shipping routes through the Persian Gulf found their major depot in the island of Dilmun. By the time of the early Roman Empire, sea-routes through the Mediterranean and the Red Sea can be traced in detail through several examples of the point-by-point coastal description called a periplus.
Exploration has existed as long as human beings, but its peak is seen as being during the Age of Exploration when European navigators travelled around the world.
In scientific research, exploration is one of three purposes of research (the other two being description and explanation). Exploration is the attempt to develop an initial, rough understanding of some phenomenon.
