You're a marketing genius.
Now small and large companies can create a buzz, tout their products freely and continue to hit their key audience with positive, glowing messages about their product and company – for free. Unlike traditional PR or marketing that gives you a one day/one week window to launch your product and make an impact, a BLOG is the gift that keeps on giving. You create your own excitement and you keep that excitement consistent and targeted at your customers/investors, partners/employees.
You've got personality.
BLOGs bring the human-to-human aspect back to business. Authors have the opportunity to express themselves on just about anything that makes them tick. Did they enjoy the recent Star Wars film? Is making small talk with the Starbucks barista a part of their daily routine? It brings back the “mom and pop” shop mentality to a large, ever-evolving business world. Bill Gates seems more like the guy next door when we get a sense of who “Bill” really is. This equates to greater trust and a stronger business. (Like Bill needs it?)
Your customers are reading.
It’s just a matter of time before BLOGs start making their way onto wish lists of “where I would like to be covered.” With high-profile and well-respected journalists and editors like Dan Gillmor of the San Jose Mercury News and Spencer Katt of eWeek making an impact in the technology industry with their BLOGs, CEOs, VPs and executives will soon be chomping at the bit to get a mention in these spots. PR people should start paying attention now to whose BLOG is making an impact and how you can get your company/client featured. Making a BLOG like those mentioned just adds another touch of credibility.
You want to buld a community .
Whether it’s creating a forum for your shareholders or formulating a place to exchange ideas with like-minded people on the latest and greatest digital home technology, BLOGs allow you to reach an audience of millions. Many companies have found that BLOGs are the best way to keep open communications with their employees and/or shareholders and gives them a place to vent, address their concerns and share valuable information.
It's free.
Creating, updating and publishing a BLOG is free. The only investment you make the time it takes to create content. Do you really want to miss out on something that is bound to create new sales leads, greater publicity and a fan base?
prezblog
Team Up and Get Real.
Leadership is as much raw performance as an innate ability to rally and unify an often a motley crew of diverse personalities, social styles and skill sets. And whether our team consists of the colleagues we most closely work with at our company, or the team atmosphere we create between our PR professionals, our clients and the media, when the rubber hits the road in a service industry like ours, it's all about the team. And yet we're facing a unique time in society when 90% of our daily human contact is made through a computer screen. How do you build a true team atmosphere when you choose to e-mail instead of call? IM instead of go on-site? Even in a technology-intensive industry like ours, it's still the human that makes it worth being. The best PR people are the ones that know how to be authentic, as Bill George articulates in his book, Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value. Antithetical to the stereotype of PR flacks that sell and spin their way around the truth without touching it, the best of the best know how to find the soul of the story, CONNECT in a personal way, and then shine 100 Klieg lights on it. PR is about influencing not just what people think, but also how theyfeel. The latter is where PR leaves the realm of science, and evolves into an art form.- K.S.
- K.S.
ardell case study of the month: “The Largest Communications IC Deal in History”
Situation
In October 2000, AMCC (NASDAQ: AMCC) decided to acquire MMC Networks (NASDAQ: MMCN) - the largest communications IC deal in history and the second largest deal in semiconductor history.
Solution
The Ardell Group focused on positioning AMCC as a company experiencing exponential growth and increasing strength within the optical networking industry. Focused equally on proactive outreach to key business, trade and financial outlets. Leveraged weekend/home contact information for major editorial outlets to maximize coverage for a Sunday evening announcement, in addition to securing and media-prepping both CEOs for several high-profile live broadcast TV interviews. Drove all coordination with MMC IR/PR agencies, logistical planning, scheduling and compilation and distribution of background materials on both companies throughout the media campaign.
Results
In-depth coverage was secured in several major outlets including: Associated Press, New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, Bloomberg News, Dow Jones, CBSMarketwatch, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, CNNfn, EE Times, Electronic News, Investors Business Daily, On-24.com, RadioWallStreet.com, Reuters, San Diego Union Tribune and local San Diego television stations.
In total, 183 business, financial and trade clips were generated by Ardell's efforts, further strengthening AMCC's position as a leading semiconductor supplier in the communications marketplace.
