http://www.commcreative.com/blog Cutting Edge Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:03:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Sending pitches electronically is an efficient way to deliver a message to your media targets. But if that’s the last step in your efforts to gain press coverage for clients, you are forgetting a vital step in the process – the phone call. Relationships matter, and the best ones ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2010/03/the-importance-of-press-outreach-by-phone/ The barrier for entry into using Twitter to build your brand's presence online is obscenely low, but actually using it strategically is where we see a lot of people trip up. Here are some quick tips to optimize your Twitter account and get the most out of all 140 characters. Clean up ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2010/02/build-a-better-tweet/ Early in my career, when I first had the responsibility of hiring an employee, I spoke with a colleague who was a longtime HR director. His advice? Look for attitude above all else. Skills are important, he said, but can be acquired or enhanced on the job ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2010/02/what%e2%80%99s-your-on-the-job-attitude/ Donna had a great post last week about understanding the media's perspective in order to be a better PR person. I loved her post and it got me thinking that her philosophy can be applied to far more than just media relations. One of the reasons why CCA is able to ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2010/02/social-media-experimentation/ PR communications to the press have become instantaneous through e-mail distributions, social media interactions and Web sites. Yes, it's efficient. But in an effort to hasten the steps that drive publicity, some PR practitioners or self-promoting businesses have gotten sloppy.  They are depersonalizing the recipients/users of the information they are ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2010/01/see-pr-from-the-media%e2%80%99s-perspective/ In the early days of social media, the catch phrase was "join the conversation." No matter what happened, join the conversation was the catch-all answer. Is it too soon to refer to it as "so last decade"? No? Your Web site is boring? join the conversation Your sales team isn't closing deals? ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2010/01/conversation-is-not-roi/ While Facebook is arguably one the best places to stay connected with friends and family, it's also a powerful marketing tool that we have helped leverage on behalf of many clients. A stat recently came out that 25% of all US page views are on Facebook, showing the immense reach ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2010/01/facebook-ad-roi-vs-traditional-media-case-study/ Although the thousands of articles about social media often overshadow it, e-mail remains highly effective as a results-oriented platform that can increase sales and drive traffic to your Web site or Facebook page. Importantly, e-mail is the most popular and effective medium for sharing information online. In a recent study from ShareThis.com ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2010/01/good-news-about-e-mail-bad-news-is-you-forgot-how-useful-it-really-is/ Google's Marissa Mayer announced, at the end of Google Search Event that Google will soon receive real-time access from Facebook Fan Page updates. "Facebook will be providing us with a feed of updates from public profile pages, also known as Facebook pages," says Mayer. This is a great opportunity for the more ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2009/12/the-facebook-google-deal-is-great-for-your-business/ The thing that I've seen consistently raise eyebrows when presenting marketing communications strategies to clients is the idea that social media programs do NOT have to live in their own isolated bubble. "Wait, you mean the intelligence that I gather through my email campaign can be used in my PR/Facebook/Twitter/SEO programs ... http://www.commcreative.com/blog/2009/12/are-your-facebook-fans-tweeting-your-email-campaign/