Battle of the Bad Sound-Bites: Coming To An Election Near You?

As I was preparing an executive communications training for a client, which includes exercises on effective sound-bites, I heard the latest "what was he thinking?" statement from Republican front-runner Mitt Romney: "I'm not concerned about the very poor." This has been parsed in every news channel this week and used by competing candidates to bash Romney even while the candidate attempted to clarify that it was taken out of context. His full comment is below: "By the way, I’m in...

Six Rules for Announcing "Solutions" in Today's Communications

"In the world we live in, somewhere between 80 percent and 95 percent of new product introductions fail. It’s not that hard to postulate that you must do virtually everything right to successfully launch new products." Jack Gordon, CEO of AcuPOLL Research Inc One of the greatest challenges solution providers face is how to package and present their new offerings in a way that will generate interest from the media. Historically, the media has tended to focus on products rather...

Are Your Messages Ready for 2012?

The activities to finish up 2011 strong are all completed, and planning for 2012 from a communications standpoint is in full force -- often combined with sales kickoff meetings around the globe. We're looking back to see how we all did, what we need to do next, and how that stacks up to what we expect the competition to do. If done right, much of the planning hinges on taking a look at messaging. For all of us communications professionals...

5 Resolutions for 2012 for PR and Social Media

Well, it is that time of year for reflecting on 2011 and looking ahead to 2012. If 2011 proved anything, it was that social media has crossed the chasm into the mainstream -- worldwide. (Tip of the hat to Geoffrey Moore.) From the democratic revolutions of the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street Movement to the Japanese tsunami to the death of Steve Jobs, social media played a central role in not only communicating the news, but also being...

The Best and Worst PR Moves of 2011 : Part I [#BestPRMoves]

It's always fun to look back at the year with a communications lens and determine the best moves that individuals, companies or organizations made from a PR standpoint and then, of course, the most bone-headed moves of the year. The latter list is always easier to compose (why is that?) A few of our intrepid PR team members, who are busily finishing up programs for 2011 and furiously planning to start 2012 with a bang, picked their heads up briefly...

Simplicity in Messaging: Learning from Amazon and Nest

One of my favorite authors on "new marketing" is David Meerman Scott. One of his core "new rules of marketing" is to avoid "gobbledygook" -- or jargon that makes messages and positioning almost incomprehensible. It's a hard thing for marketers to change, but simplicity in messaging is sorely needed. To see how it can be done, it's worth looking at two recent examples. Amazon Positions Kindle Fire When Amazon announced the Kindle Fire it posted a message at the top...

Don't Get 'Lost in Translation' in 2012

Just as Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson make ideal, yet improbable companions experiencing the culture, sights and sounds of contemporary Tokyo in Sofia Coppola’s 2003 film, Lost in Translation, so too do PR people and members of the press. We are ideal, yet improbable companions – only our shared experiences relate to our client’s key messages. Never before has the need to clearly articulate their value proposition for each audience they are trying to influence been more paramount. Without this...

The Shoemakers' Children Refresh Their Brand

We've always been focused first and foremost on our clients -- on their announcements, their messaging, their branding, their return on investment. Our efforts on growing and evolving our business are always driven by how we can provide our clients with the best resources and services available. This focus has helped us successfully navigate 25 years in the constantly shifting world of strategic communications. But now more than ever there is a major shift in the communications landscape, a shift...

What We Are #Thankful For – and NOT!

One thing for which social media is great is providing a platform for anyone to share with the world what they are thankful for at this time of year. We agree and have been doing that on Beyond the Hype for five years. In 2011, we have many important reasons to give thanks: Our loyal clients and long-time friends of the agency that have been the most important part of our success and the reason we could celebrate our 25...

Snippets on Social Media from @PubClubofNE Event #pubclubofne

Last night I attended the Publicity Club of New England's panel discussion, "Tools and Tips for Social Success: Taking Your Social Media Program to the Next Level." The panel was moderated by my colleague, @TedWeismann. The panelists were: Janet Aronica, Head of Marketing at Shareaholic (@JanetAronica) Eric Leist, Emerging Technology Strategist, Allen and Gerritsen (@EricLeist) George Snell, Senior Vice President of Digital and Social Media, Weber Shandwick (@HighTalk) Andrew Teman, Vice President, Social Media Strategy, Hill Holliday (@andrewteman) Anne Weiskopf,...