New Media is something our public relations team at CCA talks about every day. We’ve looked at our PR accounts and continue to research and make recommendations for how our PR clients can incorporate blogs and other social media into their public relations, media relations, and SEO programs. They are a great way to engage in discussions with potential customers and other partners who have an interest in a particular company, and provide quality information without the “sell sell sell” mantra of other marketing vehicles.

Surprisingly, we haven’t been asked by a client for their company to be covered by a particular Blog or Blogger, though we continue to introduce them to effective ways of communicating on the web. PR clients do ask to be covered in the press by specific top-tier trades, regional newspapers and other traditional media outlets.

So, while new media is important, it is often up to the public relations account team to continue educating clients on the benefits of new media and how it can enhance their company’s PR efforts. We’ve had a lot of success with those clients willing to broaden their PR horizons, and extend their message to new media outlets as they grow in importance and popularity.

 

“The place was packed,” was how Bob Hughes described the September Open House for the Boston Fencing Club. “People were lined up and down the entrance hall to sign up for classes…a definite first.” CCA provides the 149-year old club with expert design and marketing services and it works. “The vast majority of the attendees were from the direct mail campaign CCA did for us,” Hughes said. “Many, many thanks for all your help.

Thirty years after the idea first came along, the concept of “the medium is the message” is more relevant than ever. If you don’t know what this concept is, look it up and you’ll learn something. If you’re familiar with this idea, which medium is delivering more of the “message” these days?

Back when I lived in New York, I’d see an escaped child’s balloon bouncing against the ceiling of Grand Central Station every now and then. The ad guy in me would look at it and think: if I could attach a message to a few balloons and control their altitude so they’d hover just over people’s heads, I’d have a pretty noticeable billboard-especially during rush hour. Flash forward to 2007 and a company called gearfactor has come up with a very cool riff on the idea. www.gearfactor.com.hk

Quark or InDesign?