15 more questions to ask before you hire your PR Agency

Last week IdeaGrove put up a blog post with 25 questions to ask before you hire your PR agency. I've seen the post tweeted quite a bit over the last few days. I'm not surprised as investing in a PR agency can be one of the most important and strategic investments a company can make. And with the economy the way it is, chances are that your investment in PR may come at the expense of another marketing and sales...

How Media Training Can Sharpen Your Product Launch

Nothing brings a family together like fill in the blank -- a wedding; a new baby; the holidays. The adrenaline, the excitement, the new possibilities -- all of these things help people focus and appreciate each other and bond and meet the new challenge or opportunity. Well, fresh from a 10-person session with one of our client teams, I'm here to add a new expression: nothing focuses a product announcement's positioning like media training. Let me tell you why. We...

Google Sidewiki: Yet another (big) reason why you need a social media strategy

Do companies have control of their brands and messages anymore? That's one of the most interesting questions related to the impact of social media on marketing and communications. I think the prevailing view is that companies have far less control, but some say that it is a myth. I don't think it is a myth (see: Mint.com and Intuit). My personal belief was strengthened this week after seeing Google's announcement of Sidewiki. In short, Sidewiki gives individuals the ability to...

PR Facts and Myths

Sometimes you just need to set the record straight. When the starting gun went off in September (as it always does when school starts), and companies began frantically pushing toward year-end and a good start to 2010, I noticed an increase in confusion about what part communications can take in generating corporate results. The PR piece of the communications program is often severely overworked to accomplish things for a company that are just not possible. Amazingly, though, when PR does...

Why PR is a partner to marketing now more than ever

AdAge today has an article that mollifies many thoughts I've had in the last few days about the evolving role of PR. Michael Bush wraps together the perspectives of three chief communications officers that also have responsibility for advertising and corporate marketing to explore the increasingly strategic role they play in shaping marketing strategy. One of the perspectives came from Roger Frizzell, VP of corporate communications and advertising at American Airlines: American's Mr. Frizzell said the airline's decision to bring...

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama's pre-interview flip criticism of singer Kanye West's behavior at the VMA [which I still believe was a publicity stunt by the show or the performer] was a shot heard round the world -- within seconds, it was all over Twitter and into the blogosphere and the media. It is also a very real example of the advice we've given our spokespeople for decades -- (1) there is no such thing as "off the record;"...

Boston NIRI Chapter Draws Sellout Crowd

If the 2009/2010 season kickoff meeting of the Boston chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) is any indication of recovery being in the air, then things are looking up. The 40-year-old chapter had a sellout crowd today to hear a panel discussion at the Museum of Science featuring Dr. Adam Koppel, Managing Director of Bain Capital and Boston Globe Innovation Economy columnist and well-known blogger Scott Kirsner on the topic "The State of the Street." It was a...

LP&P Alumni Get the Sox On

It was great to catch up with so many LP&P alumni at the Red Sox game last night. We had a great night and saw Daisuke Matsuzaka spin a beauty in a 4-1 win over the Angels. It's always fun to see former colleagues and hear about what they're doing now. But beyond that, it's gratifying to know that even though they've left to take their careers in new directions, they all seem to retain a special feeling for LP&P...

Even more reason for optimism

There have been small signs of better times ahead that we've highlighted here, but we've tempered our optimism at the same time. This week, however, has been very interesting. On a day when Ben Bernanke said that the recession is "technically" over, news of the latest in a string of M&As broke. Adobe's acquisition of Omniture for $1.8 billion follows yesterday's deal for Mint by Intuit. The stock market's slow comeback bodes well for thawing the M&A and VC markets,...

The Wild West that is Twitter

We have been actively helping our clients establish presence on Twitter. In most cases, there has been a net benefit in terms of keeping their influencers up-to-date, reaching prospective customers, offering information of value to their buying communities and generating leads. Twitter has actively hinted that business use of Twitter is key to its (future) business model. Given this, coupled with its incredible growth, Twitter is seen as a brand new frontier for marketers and businesses. Much like the American...