Philadelphia Public Relations Agency | Gregarious | The Gregory FCA blog

Let's stop whining about short attention spans on the web

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Levin) — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:19:43 PDT

Fast Company recently ran an experiment to test one of the most commonly held assumptions in online publishing -- that virtually no one reads long-form content because their attention spans and time are minuscule. In case you haven't read about the experiment yet, you can get the details on Fast Company, but I'll give you the summary here.

In mid-April, Fast Company published several what it calls "stub" stories, or short articles that tell just the beginning of a story. It updated each stub with new information as the story developed over the succeeding days.

The editors' "jaws dropped" when they examined the traffic on their site during the last two weeks of April. Bounce rates plummeted. Average visit duration spiked.

Those who know me know I have been arguing this for years, against the wind. Publishers and marketers intuitively, and wrongly, think "short is better" in the web/mobile age. That's keeping your eye on the wrong ball. It's quality, not length, that matters.

People will read long when long is relevant and transferring knowledge (the formula for quality). BUYERS prefer complete, detailed, informative content that helps them drive to a decision. NON-BUYERS want quick, browsable, bounce-rate-boosting articles.

This applies to everything from blog posts to guest posts, email newsletters, case studies, brochures, news releases, queries, print ads, podcasts -- any media format that is capable of supporting quality copy. In other words, this doesn't work on Twitter. ;-)

And it doesn't work on landing pages, either, because the prospect is in motion, has already read and bought into your argument, and made a decision to get more information. Keep landing pages short and functional so you don't slow the prospect's momentum and intent to give you their contact information.

By the way, don't let keywords and key phrases dictate your content either. While a high-quality SEO strategy is a crucial component to driving traffic, many publishers are too focused on the tactical execution of goosing their SEO that they lose sight of the #1 rule of communications: Know your audience. Meet your audience's needs. Tell your audience no more and no less than they desire.

Stories should only be as short or long as they need to be. Ideally, length -- short or long -- is a natural byproduct of quality. Make quality the measure, not length, and you will win more readers, prospects, and buyers.

Gregory FCA named a finalist in five categories in Ragan's PR Daily Awards competition

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:27:46 PDT

I could lie and say everyone at Gregory FCA is humbled to have been named a finalist in five categories in Ragan's annual PR Daily Awards competition. But hey, we're publicists so we're never so coy.

We are, however, gratified that so much hard work and effort has been recognized by our industry's top trade publication.

Seven years ago, we made a strategic decision to not only embrace digital public relations, but to be an active player in developing the tools, tactics, and deliverables that would define the new world order of public relations. Our hope was that by combining our core skills of storytelling and media relations with digital, we could amplify and enhance client effectiveness by helping companies radiate their stories to broader, higher impact audiences.

Well, this week's nominations confirm our suspicions, because the recognition spans both traditional and digital categories -- a rare feat indeed and one that speaks volumes about our ability to innovate and lead our clients to solutions, some of which have yet to even be invented. (Just wait until we share with you our new Vine portal we developed with a client of ours.)

Anyway, here is just a sampling of the work we have been recognized for:

Best Traditional News Release for our work with Cast Software

Best Op-Ed Piece for our work with Cast Software

Best Infographic for our work with CA Technologies

Best Facebook Page for our work with Friendly Planet Travel

Best Content Marketing/Brand Journalism for our work with Yoh

Enjoy!

Greg

$50,000 still up for grabs. Are you the "Best Unknown Business in America?"

noreply@blogger.com (Jake Tulsky) — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:09:56 PDT

Back on March 18, we began our search for the country's best unknown business, calling on companies to tell us why their business deserves wider recognition. For the winner, we're offering $10,000 cash and a $40,000 public relations campaign.

In response, we've received dozens of entries from businesses working in a range of industries, from consumer products to technology to retail. They include the company behind the world's first jet flight powered by 100 percent biofuel; the minds behind a muscle-recovery compression boot system for athletes; and a mobile technology platform for recruiting, retaining, and engaging prospective and existing employees.

If you think your business deserves this title, don't worry. There's still time to enter! Visit Gregory FCA's Facebook page, complete the entry form, and explain why the world needs to know about your business. Our search continues through June 18 at midnight EDT.

Check out our latest press release for more details. If you think your business could benefit from the exposure of a national public relations campaign, submit your entry today!

Marshaling the troops and orchestrating the efforts

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Tue, 07 May 2013 05:50:10 PDT

Time was, PR agencies were on islands of their own. The client gave the assignment, and the agency was responsible for creating the message, strategy, tactics, and results. But lines are blurring, especially in the realm of social media, where collective effort and social shares play dramatic roles in amplifying the results of a program in order to fully leverage a campaign.

Never before has collaborative public relations played such a critical role in advancing the story. An effectively socialized story -- one that is advanced by both agency and client alike -- echoes farther, impacts more greatly, and ultimately reaches bigger audiences than a single tree falling. In fact, it often takes a forest of felled trees to be heard, which is exactly the result when a public relations agency marshals all of the clients and internal touch points, and educates them in how to radiate a story out into the market. Some fresh examples illustrate well:

ATTENNN-TION! Marshal your audiences
to share your story further

A major technology reseller has more than 1,000 sales agents in markets around the country. They need to constantly be communicating to stay fresh and relevant in their customers' minds. To help the effort, their PR agency holds a series of orchestration seminars where industry topics are identified and prioritized. The topics flow into an editorial calendar that drives their various social streams and messages. The sales team is fully trained on how to leverage the streams and push them out through their own social channels.

sales teams are provided the very fodder they crave in order to take dead aim at prospects

A commodity provider of business services needs to make an impact at an upcoming trade show. The only problem is it is among the smallest of fish in what is a vast sea of competitors with bigger and bolder booth and trade floor presences.

By working in advance with its public relations agency, the client is able to internally brainstorm the names of hundreds of influencers who will be attending the show. The names range from past and prospective customers, to editors at top trade journals, analysts, commentators, and even the show's keynote speaker. Twitter handles are found and lists built. A library of fun and welcoming advance tweets gains hundreds of followers, who are converted to a specially designed app, developed hand-in-glove with the public relations agency to aggregate all social media commenting across various platforms. It's a big hit that makes a dramatic impact. The little fish ends up swallowing some pretty enormous whales. As the public relations universe continues to expand, it's naïve to believe that agencies can continue to be the sole engine of external messaging. Neither they should be. With so many communications channels at our disposal, a campaign now needs to be a collective effort -- one that's driven by the agency but supported by a marshaled plan of orchestration that takes advantage of all available resources, whether they are unique to the agency or inherent to the client.

Managing a leading Philadelphia public relations firm

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:31:23 PDT

"Everything I know about management I have learned from reality TV and sports." And so began my portion of a conversation with a management class at Ursinus College in suburban Philadelphia. Fortunately, I was in some pretty rarified company with a C-level executive from a major consumer products company to my right, an executive from Vanguard on my left, and someone internal to Ursinus College administration in between us all.

They all came from organizations larger than the 50 professionals who comprise Gregory FCA. So I relied on them to address questions of management theory. My world, unfortunately, is much more concrete. Here inside a mid-sized PR firm, we don't have the luxury of rigid frameworks and structures. We don't do engagement studies -- as one of the speakers explained. Rather, engagement is demonstrated each and every day in a constant drive to remain relevant to our customers, deliver results, and ultimately help our clients achieve their business objectives.

But still, there is a method to the madness of managing a leading public relations firm here in Philadelphia. So here's what I shared with an audience of bright, young people eager to learn about the world around them:

Question 1: What motivates you?

FEAR O'CLOCK: Fear wakes us in
the morning and drives us to excel

My answer as an entrepreneur: "Fear." Once the laughter subsided, I shared with them that every day I launch from bed fully aware of the expectations upon me -- to meet payroll, to land new business, to exceed the expectations of a roster of clients who have entrusted us with their image and reputation. It's fear that makes us run in the morning. That brings us to the office over the weekend with the troubling questions that haunt all entrepreneurs: Are we good enough? Do we want it enough? Do we know enough? And in the end, will we make a difference in the growth trajectory of each of our clients?

Question 2: Do you really have to care about people in order to manage them?

My answer as an entrepreneur: "It's all about sincerity, and once you can fake that the world is your oyster." Again with the laughter. The truth is that most people who succeed in public relations are more focused on the creative process and the ideas than they are on people and emotions. The line between the two has always been my greatest challenge. I told the class I am apt to run over people in pursuit of that one idea that will resonate with a market and win the day for the client. I struggle each day to balance the two.

Question 3: What makes people loyal?

My answer as an entrepreneur: "In 2013, I do not believe that people are inherently loyal to an organization." Rather, professionals, and particularly young professionals, are loyal to certain aspects of a profession. That might be IT. Or it might be social media. Or it might be media relations. Or it could be writing and communications. You need to find those people who are passionate about your products, services, and clients, and all of a sudden you find alignment.

Question 4: What would you tell a young person just starting in business?

My answer as an entrepreneur: Find your passion. I don't care if it's furniture making or public relations. I don't care if it's journalism or entrepreneurship. Find out what turns you on, what captures your attention. What you think may be one step beyond you. Then master it while you are young, when you can afford to take risk. Find mentors to direct you. Invest the time to acquire the skills behind the craft. Spend the 10,000 hours needed for proficiency, and then go for it. Success will follow.

Question 5: What's been your biggest surprise of the evening?

My answer as an entrepreneur: "That the word 'organization' has been used so much this evening." In my firm, we have another word to explain our collective efforts. It's simpler than the word organization. We always use the term "We" to explain our singular focus on client service and delivery. It's up to the collective We to grow our business, master our profession, stay current or ahead of the business, and surprise and delight clients. It's not an organization. It's We.

Question 6: What is your take on the skills and commitment of young professionals just joining the workforce?

My answer as an entrepreneur: Never have so many young people joined the workforce with so many needed skills. Public relations and communications is a booming industry. The ascent of the Internet. The availability of media. The always-on, informational world we live in. It demands great communicators, and guess what? The new workforce has spent 10 years communicating with one another -- on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and other digital channels. That's an incredible installed base of pre-trained talent. To manage it, we need to understand that young professionals want to work collaboratively. They want to be challenged. They feel most alive when they are multitasking and moving quickly working with others. They may sometimes overestimate their skills, but you can't punish them for errors of aggression. Only errors of omission. If they're trying, that's great. If they are simply not engaged, that's a problem. They want to inherit the world quickly and probably will.

Philly Tech Week 2013: Philadelphia puts itself on the tech map

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Lizun) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:23:16 PDT

There was a time, not that long ago, that Philadelphia was only known for its cheesesteaks, infamous sports fans, and the city's mark on early American history. But an amazing transformation is occurring throughout the region.

Whereas Philadelphia-based companies once had to look elsewhere for their tech needs, the city now boasts technology companies providing some of the most interesting and advanced tech that is being used by both national and international players. Companies ranging from start-ups to bigger, established names are leading the way and putting Philly on the map as a growing and exciting tech community. And if there is one event that captures the city's evolution, it's Philly Tech Week 2013.

As the Philadelphia region's leading technology-focused public relations firm, Gregory FCA is proud to announce its sponsorship of Philly Tech Week 2013. The week-long celebration has experienced exponential growth since its inception in 2011, and we are thrilled to be a part of it. The event is running between April 20 and April 27, and individual events will be held at a variety of businesses, organizations, and educational institutions in and surrounding the Philadelphia area.

Gregory FCA staffers will be attending a wide variety of events throughout the week as we seek to put our ears to the ground, engage the city's tech leaders and trailblazers, and support Philly's next generation of tech innovators. If you're attending any of the week's events, be sure to look out for us and feel free to say hi, as we'll be trying to meet as many people as we can.

Philly Tech Week was started by Technically Philly, a news site that is doing a great job of covering the Philly tech scene.

How college PR majors can land a job at a leading Philadelphia PR firm

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:57:04 PDT

As the daffodils blossom and the Penn Relays near, it's once again time to share with the thousands of graduating public relations and communications majors how one leading Philadelphia public relations firm adds junior members to its staff each year. So here's our best advice.

Engage with us early and often. The truth is, we start looking for junior associates early, and we like them to stay in contact with us throughout their junior summer and senior year. Each year, Gregory FCA makes available summer internships to a select group of five to 10 rising seniors, to whom we offer positions to join us upon graduation. So if you are a junior, contact us to talk about a summer 2013 position.

We pay for internships. Not a lot -- but unlike other places, we feel a moral obligation to pay the best and brightest a nominal hourly rate to work with us during their junior summer and through their senior year (if they are available).

Land a coveted internship. Contact us through our preferred channels -- social media. Everyone in Gregory FCA has extensive networks. Those communications students who open dialogue with us make a lasting impression. So use Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Show an interest in public relations. We only hire students who have communications, journalism, or public relations degrees and/or have some public relations experience. That experience can take many forms. Perhaps you were a member of your college's chapter of PRSA, or you were the public relations chair of your fraternity or sorority. Or perhaps you were the editor of your school newspaper. All hold weight in our decision making process.

Be outgoing, positive, and confident in your communications skills. Public relations is a people business, so make sure to shine during your interview and keep up the positivity in your follow-through.

Show off your writing and verbal skills. Communications is still the name of the game. During your interview and on your writing test, make sure you can command the basics of written communications.

Believe it or not, some of our top professionals here at Gregory FCA started as interns during their junior summer, joined us full time upon graduation, and now are impact players in our firm. Could you be the next great Gregory FCA hire? Contact us through our preferred social channels to find out!

The death of the narrative

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 08:41:25 PDT

I have had an epiphany over the past six months. Narratives are dead. You know the kind. The scripts PR people are famous for preparing and then demanding our clients to stick to. The ones that come with messaging stacks and PowerPoint pyramids, along with three-day messaging sessions designed more to up the agency's hourly billing than to deliver real-world client value.

Well, I am calling it a game. Narratives are dead. The stuff of "Just do it" Nike advertising campaigns from the 1990s, along with the communications tricks of the Clinton administration. Back then, leading-edge PR amounted to the simple notion that if you just say it enough, the world will eventually believe you. It worked back then. But not today.

GONE: Narratives have fallen out of place

Today, no one cares about what you have to say. No one is interested in your need to tell them. They couldn't care less about your value proposition or your features and benefits. Or your unique selling proposition. Everyone has that at their disposal. The consumer is past the hollow promise. They don't want to be talked at any more. They aren't listening to your narrative.

In fact, the very term "narrative" suggests the same old one-way street of communications. I talk, you listen. I say what I have to say, you stand persuaded. Naha. Ain't happening. Not in today's multichannel world.

We got it all wrong, and we better straighten it out real fast before we continue this propaganda noise. In place of the narrative, here's what the new tenets of PR hold in 2013.

1. Know your audience. What do they want to hear? What do they need to learn? Where are they in their lives and what is important to them? Last week I was working with a plaintiff attorney and friend. He's incredibly creative, a remarkably strong writer. But four of his last five blog posts are about the evils of tort reform. I finally challenged him. Do you think your clients and prospective clients really care about politics or legislation or the reforms that threaten your livelihood? I told him bluntly, stop talking about your points of pain and start addressing theirs. Your clients come to you at the most difficult times in their lives. They might be broke and broken. Their lives shattered. They couldn't care less about how legislators are threatening to limit your ability to sue. No. They want something much closer to them. They want your empathy, strength, and passion. They want to know things will be OK. They want your confidence and your insights -- not your railings against your opponents. Talk to these people. Demonstrate concern. Express humanity. Get off your narrative and engage, inform, enlighten, and inspire. That's communications and that's public relations in 2013.

2. Change your message according to the channel. Our multichannel world dooms the narrative because each channel demands a different approach. Social media is merely a means to extend your reach, but often not a place for one-sided narratives. Change your message accordingly to reach diverse audiences, a realization that stands in direct opposition to old-school, narrative-driven public relations.

3. Think like a publisher -- not a pusher. Publishers engage. Build audience. Speak to the interests of a market by publishing on a common issue, topic, or subject of interest. Pushers stick to narratives. They clobber the audience with their message. Publishers, though, embrace their audience. They seek input and congeal eyeballs through interest. And they do it with no greater product than the passion of their own readers or viewers or listeners. Do you push or do you publish? Are you connecting or are you correcting? Self-publishing represents the great revolution of the digital age. But the start point has to be the needs and drives of the audience, not the needs of your business to sell more today!

4. Content collaboration. Let's face it. Content is king and it's killer. It's pure gold when done well, but difficult and time consuming to create. Yet, more than anything, our customers want to be informed to know what's going on. Why else do they check Facebook, Instagram, emails, and texts every minute of the day? More than anything, they want information from the partners and brands that they choose to let into their lives. So there are two halves to the content equation. First, content has to be created. Second, it then must be marketed and publicized. It's a collaborative affair that puts to death the notion of narrative-driven PR and gives rise to the real truths of building audiences, creating public relationships, and ultimately creating highly loyal and valued customers.

The narrowness of the narrative failed to foresee the great content revolution that is now upon us. No longer can clients, brands, and enterprises create a single narrative and expect that to suffice in a multichannel world, where dialogue is now the hallmark of engagement.

The revolution taking place in PR measurement

noreply@blogger.com (Brian McDermott) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:24:23 PDT

Are you struggling to measure your PR efforts? Well you're not alone. Seems as if some of my PR colleagues are also slow to embrace the revolution now taking place in PR measurement. At last week's Ragan Communications PR Measurement Summit in Washington, D.C., a new study was released exploring the current state of measurement in the PR field.

The study, conducted by Ragan Communications and NASDAQ OMX, finds that 58 percent of PR professionals consider themselves "beginners" when it comes to measurement programs. The study also finds that 32 percent of the industry is still using the AVE (Advertising Value Equivalency) method, an old standard that is mostly frowned upon today. Only 30 percent of the industry is measuring for competitive share of voice, and 21 percent of PR professionals don't do any type of measurement at all.

What accounts for these statistics? And why is there a lack of an industry standard method of measurement in the public relations field? After attending Ragan's Measurement Summit, I think I finally have some answers.

SIZING UP: Is the PR industry heading
toward standard measurements of results?

First off, I was surprised that so many in the industry continue to use Advertising Value Equivalency, a mostly inaccurate standard that tries to put a dollar value on media placements through arbitrary multiples. AVE was never a fair standard, but it's more irrelevant today than ever before. You can't put an AVE on something that doesn't have any advertising to begin with ... like a blog post, tweet, Facebook like, or an upvote on Reddit. Yet there are those in the field trying to put AVE on tweets and blogs, and dollar values on Facebook likes. It just doesn't relate.

Social media is still a new world for some in the field. For every PR pro who has been on Twitter since 2007, there is another who is just now learning what a hashtag is. Not everyone consumes social media at the same pace. Some of my colleagues at the conference were beginners at social media, but they are interested, they are asking the right questions, and they want to learn. That is promising because in order to adopt an industry standard of measurement, we must first at least understand all that needs to be measured.

The choices of tools available for PR measurement are endless. It seems like there is a new service appearing literally every day, and trying to keep abreast of all the changes is no small feat. Each year here at Gregory FCA, we research and assess the available tools. And every year the results are different. So just like the media that these tools measure, they are constantly evolving and changing. Part of Ragan's study focuses on which paid tools are being used most often in the industry. And although services like CisionPoint (16 percent), Radian6 (13 percent), Sysomos (4 percent), and HootSuite (17 percent) are in the mix, 41 percent of respondents chose "other" as their paid tool of choice -- once again proving that there is no standard, no industry leader for measurement.

Time and cost are two challenges that every PR practitioner must face. Make no mistake, some of the tools mentioned above are very pricey. It can cost $50K and up per year for the right tool, and that cost doesn't include training and ongoing management of the tools. Firms that aren't investing in such tools simply are not optimizing value for their clients. After all, how can you determine results if you aren't monitoring the impact of your communications strategy in real time to audiences that matter most?

Many in the industry seem unsure of measuring sentiment as the industry's faith in automated sentiment analysis begins to wane. Automated sentiment lacks a human element. The algorithms cannot detect irony, sarcasm, or vernacular (all commonly appearing in social media). In fact, Coca-Cola did its own study where it compared automated sentiment results to human raters, finding widespread differences. Many of today's measurement tools offer some form of automated sentiment analysis. While they are worth considering, be forewarned that the industry is falling skeptical of a tool's ability to automatically score public opinion sentiment of an issue, brand, product, or company.

So as AVE continues to go the way of the dinosaurs, and late adopters to social media catch up with the early adopters and early majority, and automated sentiment becomes accepted as flawed, a more standard outlook on PR measurement can evolve. And the savvier the industry becomes, the more it can demand from paid measurement tools, resulting in better tools, and hopefully a standardization of the tools themselves. Meanwhile, as we continue to improve our measurement skills and continue to learn as much as we can about social and traditional media, we might just be moving toward new measurement standards that would serve the best interest of our industry and clients.

Late to the game, new study shows the impact social media is now making in financial services

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Anthony) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 08:03:33 PDT

Years ago, when we first began working in the financial services industry, our clients came to us to help them achieve visibility in their markets. They wanted media coverage that would showcase their firm, enhancing their perceived credibility and visibility.

Times have changed as the demands of our clients' clients have changed. It's now a game of credibility, visibility, and ACCESSIBILITY.

Last week, Accenture published a research report titled "How Tech-Savvy Advisors Can Regain Investor Trust" that highlighted the continued emergence of digital and social media as tools for building relationships between investment advisory firms and their clients. Much of the report's data was interesting, but one particular section stood out to me:

"Social media utilization has also helped FAs (financial advisors) achieve their key professional goals. Among all FAs surveyed, 77% affirm that it helps with client retention, 74% agree that it helps them increase assets under management, and 73% say it has led to an overall increase in client interactions."

As financial services firms continue to evaluate the role and relevance of social media and digital communications in their broader marketing and sales strategy, the data from the report confirms that advisors and their firms are seeing tangible benefits from social media. What the report doesn't delve deeply into is the question of why it is working and how firms choose to introduce clients and referral sources to their digital presence.

APPROVED: Financial advisors have good
reason to start liking social media

In our role, we are asked by our clients to develop and implement strategies that will help them achieve their objectives. Investment management firms in particular are eager to connect how their marketing and PR activities are supporting the distribution of their funds and the flow of new client referrals, as well as spurring client support and staff retention. In most cases, those objectives require firms and their professionals to become more accessible and more visible, while enhancing their perceived credibility.

Want to get more investors interested in your mutual fund? Let them feel like they know the individuals behind the investment decisions. Want to stimulate more referrals for your advisory firm? Give key referral sources an easily accessible social presence they can use to introduce and sell you to their network. Want to get investors to trust you and your firm? Talk to them often and regularly through social media, and stay in front of them by communicating over social channels.

The financial services community is embracing the social tools that have helped other industries tap new markets and expand their customer engagement. For RIA firms looking to advance their social media presence, here are six recommendations to put to work today:

1. Think about your market first. The #1 rule of communications is know your audience. Before engaging in social media, first consider with whom you want to communicate. Individual investors? Referral sources? Baby boomers? Retirees? Business owners? Then, know what is important to them. Too many advisors spend too much time talking about what they know and not enough about what their audiences want to learn. Don't get caught in that trap.

2. Choose channels that reflect your practice and your audience. Think Facebook is only for kids and families? Well according to a recent study by Spectrem Group, 47 percent of ultra high net worth investors are active on Facebook. On LinkedIn, it's 32 percent. Use one, some, or all channels available as a way to spread your visibility, and extend your brand, credibility, and expertise.

3. Think of social media as business networking. Too many advisors lament that they simply don't have time to communicate on social media. Nonsense. Social media is simply a way to connect, network, and engage your markets. That's sales, pure and simple. The more you realize the business development power of social media, the easier it is to justify a long-term commitment to the practice.

4. Don't just regurgitate, educate! I can read The New York Times myself, thank you. If you think social media is simply sharing articles from other publications, I can assure you others won't read them or share them. Rather, think about how to make your commenting meaningful. Fidelity issued its retirement savings report, for instance, revealing that the average American only has $77,300 in 401(k) savings, which raised concern and consternation. Don't just share such an article. Say something about it. For instance, "Does it surprise you that the average American only has $77,300 in retirement savings? It does to me. I guess I am fortunate to have met lots of people who have planned wisely over the years? What keeps us from investing in retirement and what can we do about it? Read this article and then give me your ideas."

5. Make it personal. As Dale Carnegie said, "a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language." When responding to comments, use the commenter's name, and always agree, even when you don't agree. "Peter, thanks for the comment. I agree that tax policy makes it sometimes difficult to save for retirement, and I would add one additional comment: We can't control the uncontrollable. We can however ..." Get it?

6. Think shareable. The success of your firm's effort to connect, communicate, and engage can be amplified by sharing content that will be shared by others. What gets shared? Humor gets shared. Thoughtful, non-inflammatory opinions get shared. Inspirational thoughts of the day get shared. Why not make it your habit to share good financial news of people you know? For instance, this one post sticks in my mind from an advisor client of ours, "Congratulations to Jill and Bill Harvey, who bought their dream vacation home thanks to smart planning over the years. May the weather be warm and the beers be cold as you enjoy yourself in Key West!"

Wanted: "Best Unknown Business in America"

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:50:38 PDT

As public relations professionals, we're honored to work with remarkable businesses that benefit from the power of public relations. But we thought, what about those businesses that never make the radar?

Eager to meet and recognize the best and the brightest, Gregory FCA and Safeguard Scientifics have launched the "Best Unknown Business in America" contest. We're looking for a company that can benefit from the visibility and exposure that a professional public relations campaign provides.

Ask yourself: Is your company the country's best unknown business? You know the kind. Maybe it's that killer technology start-up that has yet to make the radar. Or perhaps it's some new wonder drug that will increase life expectancy. Or could it be that new sustainable business that's doing great financially while doing good for the world?

If so, you could win $10,000 in cash and a $40,000 public relations campaign through our "Best Unknown Business in America" contest. We urge businesses from around the country to enter, win, and make a name for themselves. Any business can enter by visiting Gregory FCA's Facebook page. Simply complete the entry form and submit an essay on why your business deserves to be known by the world.

The winning submission will be chosen by a celebrity panel of business experts, including Stephen T. Zarrilli, President and CEO of Safeguard Scientifics, which provides growth capital to emerging and growth-stage healthcare and technology companies; Daniel Roitman, Founder and CEO of Stroll, an education ecommerce platform company, repeatedly ranked for company growth by Inc. 5000, Smart CEO, and Philadelphia 100; Miles Spencer, an angel investor, media entrepreneur, and explorer who co-created "Money Hunt," the original entrepreneurial funding reality TV show; and myself.

The contest opens March 18, 2013 and will close June 18, 2013 at midnight EDT. The grand prize will be awarded on July 18, 2013 at 12 noon EDT. Additional information can also be found in our press release. Don't pass on the opportunity to take your business to the next level. Submit your entry today!

Accountability represents the greatest change in PR strategies over the past 25 years

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:29:36 PST

Confession time: It was all once based on the hope theory, this art of public relations. Public relations pros would craft a message we hoped would resonate with influencers -- such as media. We then hoped they would find value in the message and distribute it to their audiences.

Once out there, we hoped the intended audience would appreciate it, and shape behavior, opinion, or demand accordingly. And all this was done with the hope that some open-ended retainer would finance the entire public relations strategy. But today, hope is for dopes.

GAME PLAN: Accountability is increasingly
important to successful PR strategies

That's because accountability is the calling card today in developing contemporary, scientific public relations strategies that impact real business objectives for clients. It's been a sea change, and a welcomed one, considering how far our industry has come and the tools now available in transforming public relations into a legitimate means of building real bottom line value.

With these changes comes an onslaught of new tactical realities all aimed at injecting greater transparency and accountability into the investments clients' make in public relations, through:

1. The demise of retainers and rise of the scope of work. The open retainer of old was based on a failed notion that public relations was more closely aligned to sales than marketing, and PR firms needed to pursue the media, regardless of where the effort took them. Open checkbook retainers funded that pursuit. A 2013 reality check shows that today's public relations strategies are based firmly on tasks that help clients build and control their own channels, all of which can be easily identified, priced, and delivered through a transparent scope of work that leads to an agreed upon outcome.

2. The power of result platforms. Here's a dirty little secret. The reason public relations was once unaccountable was there were few easy ways to quantify results. Today? Not so much. Result platforms are the monitoring mechanisms that are now baked into a successful public relations strategy from the beginning. Designed right, these platforms can monitor and measure any range of legitimate business objectives, from improved search engine optimization, increased lead generation, enhanced pipeline development, and greater webinar attendance, to broader awareness and market influence.

3. It's about content marketing, not content (satisfied) marketing. In many ways, the cockroaches have again inherited public relations. For years, those with the talent to develop compelling content were the masters of the public relations universe, able to convince and persuade simply through the power of words. Well, the business got sloppy somewhere during the tech bubble of the late 1990s, when print media exploded. (Remember when placing a feature story was as easy as calling an editor at the Industry Standard who needed to fill hundreds of pages of copy a month?) Well it's back to the future, now that content marketing has replaced even the feature/benefit, case study, testimonial marketing of the 2000s. In a highly commoditized world, where everyone just about argues the same benefits (improved ROI, quicker time to market, blah, blah, blah) prospects want reliable information and education, above all else. How content drives that process and establishes thought leadership is the prime question in public relations today and one we're uniquely positioned to answer as communicators, educators, influencers, and persuaders.

4. The new influencers. Sure, it's still The New York Times or the Today show. Media continue to play the leading role in setting agendas. But it's also about the front page of Google and how we help clients get there in search strings most used by their target audience. That quest has opened up a whole new avenue of public relations strategy, one of immense importance in the new paradigm of see and be seen.

Our world today is one based on real business objectives rather than the failed hope strategies of the past. The industry's ability to demonstrate results, real results, perhaps for the first time in its history is forever transforming our science and craft. It's refreshing to look clients in the eye and share worldly results rather than hopeful intentions.

Unveiling Gregory FCA's new website

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:41:13 PST

We've been hard at work creating a new website for Gregory FCA that uses contemporary, "responsive design" to visually showcase client results on laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Responsive design detects the platform that visitors are using and adapts dynamically to provide the best experience.

Today we're ready to show the finished product. We released a press release announcing our new website, which you can read for more details on the new features we've added. Also feel free to go to our website from any device to give it a whirl. What do you think?

REDESIGNED: Feel free to try out Gregory FCA's new, responsive design website

Why Bob Woodward needs to strap on his big boy pants

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:27:17 PST

Talk about thin-skinned journalists. This week's flame up between the Obama White House and Washington Post columnist Bob Woodward stands as a stark example of how hypersensitive the press can be when pushed back hard.

Woodward contends and a White House aide confirms that Woodward and the White House engaged in a 30-minute shouting match this week after Woodward contacted the Obama press corps to inform them that he was going to write a less-than complimentary piece on the role the president has played in creating the sequestration mess the country is facing.

The White House has stuck to its narrative that President Obama didn't trigger the sequestration dominoes when he kicked the can down the road and put in place a political IED set to go off this week. After the telephone argument, the aide sent Woodward an email apologizing for the outburst and then appended a final thought, "But perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here ... I think you will regret staking out that claim."

Woodward went on the offensive, suggesting that somehow the Obama Administration had threatened him and that the president himself would object to the aide's menacing comment. "I think if Obama himself saw the way they're dealing with some of this, he would say, 'Whoa, we don't tell any reporter you're going to regret challenging us.'"

Really? The president would object to an aide telling a journalist that he might regret the path he was taking in his reporting? Wow? Talk about a prima donna. Perhaps Woodward should sit in the seat of a publicist and listen to how his ilk talks to us. Over the course of my career, I have listened as journalists have fought, threatened, and disparaged me as I worked to represent my clients in various crises and difficult scrapes.

I recall one network broadcast journalist who told me I would never work in the business again if I didn't produce a client for an interview. Another told me flat out that she intended to embarrass my client simply because I refused to confirm an alleged fact. Or how about the common threat made by the media on a daily basis -- if your client isn't going to talk to us, we're just going to publish the other side of the story and your client will look guilty.

Are those threats? Nah. Heck, I thought they were standard operating procedure. In pursuit of a story, shouldn't the press rant and rave and pull levers and push buttons to get to the truth? Why can't PR professionals do the same? If I had a $100 for every time someone in the media said or suggested I would regret not giving in to their request, I would own a home in Aspen by now.

Regrets, I am sure Bob Woodward has had a few. Add one more, contending that a PR person's attempt to influence his reporting is somehow a veiled threat.

So God Made a Publicist

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:18:16 PST

The question of cred and TED

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 07:21:39 PST

At first, they served as mind-blowing studies into the human condition and the direction of everything from education to energy, world affairs to space travel. Today, TED Talks, the highly popular series of spoken word presentations, sound more like simple pitches from entrepreneurs eager to fund their wind farms, organic lines of pickles, or to extend careers as corporate motivational speakers.

All too often, to make their points, the cast from TED seems to resort to doomsday prophecy, unfettered speculation, or PBS-style self-help palp with titles like "8 Secrets to Success" or Tony Robbins' "Why We Do What We Do." (Didn't I see that on his late-night infomercial during the 90s?)

JUNK TALKS: TED speakers

entertain rather than educate

Five years ago, when I first started watching TED Talks online, I was enthralled. Here was the spoken word reinvented for contemporary audiences, a depth of thought rarely available, and all online for free. I studied those earlier presenters closely and borrowed style and substance from TED speakers in training my own clients. I even took Prezi training to emulate the breezy, flowing style so common to many TED presentations.

Lately, though, TED seems to have lost its credibility with talks based more on overstatement and exaggerations with speakers whose credentials are determined by their entertainment value rather than substance. TED's recent NPR programming illustrates the point. Without the body language and cool visuals, TED talks presented over radio make the listener focus on words and ideas, not on flamboyance and presentation.

Recently during a long car ride, I listened to a summation of recent TED talks about food, and heard time and again presenters who too often stated the obvious, or worse, resorted to fear mongering and exaggeration to make a point.

For instance, I listened to a chef turned lunch lady who is focusing now on improving the quality of food for school kids. A noble cause indeed. But she begins her talk claiming that we are feeding our children to death to the point of extinction. Really? Killing our children? Extinction? Come on over to my neighborhood. Kids are aplenty. The meteorite must have struck elsewhere, thank God!

I then listened to another chef espouse the virtues of a Spanish fish farm that uses the marshes of Western Spain to sustainably raise fish and seafood. Unfortunately, he spoke from the mound as an elite, one who can easily afford to eat the world's finest, freshest, and most expensive foods, and thinks everyone else can too. Not exactly a game plan for ending word hunger or delivering better nutrition to inner city kids. He found offense with a fish farmer who feeds his stock 1/3 chicken protein, even though he's OK with humans eating fish. Talk about twisting the food chain to support your own restaurant's menu.

And then there was the architect whose British accent, no doubt, is what qualified her to speak on food's influence on cities. Her premise, that today's agriculture is unsustainable, flew in the face of the very farmland I happened to be driving through at the time. For more than a century (probably longer), Lancaster County, PA has sated the appetites of Philadelphians, in a symbiotic relationship of farm to table. Real sustainability that she claimed is absent in today's modern world.

The entire TED phenomenon raises some serious issues for professional communicators, like myself, whose job it is to prepare clients for speaking appearances. Do we succumb to the TED temptation of exaggeration and elitism all in the hope that entertainment and fear will persuade others to a belief, opinion, investment, or just-released book? Or should we strive for accuracy and rationality in our rhetoric?

TED's influence is now seen far and wide in conferences and classrooms, and it's bound to make even more of an impact now that online, open lectures are all the rage in higher education. So is cred dead when it comes to live presentations? TED's latest offerings are more fast food than nutritional content for the mind, a trend I hope they change and return to a thinking man's objective and modulated views of the world.

Why "Duck Dynasty" soars

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:16:44 PST

And why American TV needs more shows about the intrinsic value of family

It's funny how families have quietly worked their way back into American media and entertainment, even as Hollywood does its best to block their re-entry. The back door is a new breed of reality blue-collar TV that's providing a last bastion for those of us who still care about the American family and see it as worthy of respect and protection.

The latest entry into this parallel universe is A&E's "Duck Dynasty," which follows the exploits of a hill-bogie entrepreneurial family set in rural Louisiana. The Robertson family transformed a passion for duck hunting into a multimillion duck call business, founded by patriarch Phil Robertson.

Phil is pretty easy to underestimate. He plays a seemingly simple, folksy Jed Clampett character. But behind his ZZ-Top-like beard, he's a pretty smart-witted good old boy, who once started as quarterback in front of NFL Hall of Famer, Terry Bradshaw, when they both played football at Louisiana Tech.

Phil had one hell of an arm. But he grew tired of 300-pound linemen falling atop him. And anyway, football season conflicts with his first love: goose and duck hunting. He turned down an NFL tryout with the Washington Redskins to keep hunting and fishing in the Louisiana swamps. That was before he earned a master's degree in English and learned how to recite Shakespeare. And then figured out how to make and sell $175 duck calls to build a backwoods empire.

Phil is joined in the cast by his seemingly crazy brother, Si, and his two sons -- Willie, the company CEO, and Jase, his brother. They play up the camp at every turn, appearing in the show's opening credits exiting a Bentley, wearing tuxedos, camouflage, and wading boots, with beards flying in the wind.

They would all be easy to dismiss, this season's "Honey Boo Boo," if not for one redeeming quality: the strength of their family and the ease with which they share their lives with one another.

I know. I know. All reality shows are fake. And many of the characters' shenanigans are no doubt staged. But the Robertsons' idiosyncrasies and desire to connect with one another as family are much more real than anything I see on network sitcoms.

In fact, this year's evening TV reads more like soft porn than sitcoms. I would be hard pressed to read aloud in my office the scripts of "Whitney," "The Mindy Project," "2 Broke Girls," "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23," and "New Girl" without being sued for workplace harassment, what with the constant references to oral sex and three ways.

And of course, there's always the well-worn plot of the obligatory visits from dysfunctional moms and dads who regularly barge into their kids' $3,500-a-month, loft-style apartments to prove once again that family is bad and 20-something acquaintances are great. Remarkably, one of these shows is even named after a massage parlor sex act without any protest from any quarters. I will let you figure out the offender.

It's not like that over on A&E. In a world as real as life can get played out in front of cameras, the Robertsons are clear in their expectation. They demand family members respect one another. They speak the truth in simple, unambivalent terms. Mothers and fathers love and respect one another. Their kids understand the world of work. They all appreciate the land and understand where food and sustenance comes from. They seize the opportunity to make their own way and show gratitude at every turn.

Each episode ends with a Waltons-style John Boy moment, as Willie voices over the family's weekly shared meal. It's hard to believe that this kind of cornball works in the world today. But in the alternative, there is no alternative, and hey, there's something immensely likable about the Robertsons. Something uniquely American. A place that reflects my family life more than the next vagina joke spewed on network TV.

Contrary to Cummings, Kaling, and Deschanel, here family is still vital and vibrant, and celebrated in ways rarely portrayed in American media. "Duck Dynasty" might be campy and cornball. It might be all made up. But in it resides a very real notion of family, caring, and respect, something that would be nice to see more of on American TV.

"My idea of heaven is a mess of mallards, with no game warden in sight."
-Phil Robertson

"FrackNation" gives voice to those unheard

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:49:56 PST

In human terms, a documentary maker undoes Oscar-nominated "Gasland"

These are the people I know here in Pennsylvania: The small farmers scratching out existences on family farms in counties throughout the Commonwealth. The faces I pass on the way to my cabin on Penn's Creek in Central PA, and that I see at the county fairs I frequent in summer months. They are also the voices rarely heard in the debate over Northeast natural gas development, until now.

Last night, AXS TV premiered journalist's Phelim McAleer's long-anticipated, pro natural gas development documentary. Beyond its content and substance, what will forever persist about his movie is the humanity and compassion McAleer uses to portray rural Pennsylvanians -- a sturdy stock of people who, for once, are portrayed as articulate, caring people steadfast in their generational bond to farm and field.

For too long their voices have gone unheard. That's because nationally, hydraulic fracturing has become the environmental cause célèbre of our time with everyone from Susan Sarandon to Yoko Ono to David Letterman lining up on the anti-side of the debate.

Their interest was triggered by the Oscar-nominated 2012 film, "Gasland," directed by Josh Fox, who claimed to be a Pennsylvania landowner when he really resides in Manhattan. In a bit of investigative journalism, McAleer proves that Fox included in his footage a fake contract from a gas company seeking to license Fox family land, thereby undermining his initial rationale for producing his movie.

Nevertheless, "Gasland" was masterful as theater, and the scene of a homeowner lighting his tap water on fire quickly became a searing indictment of a process that could account for 100 years of energy potential for our country. Fox has since made it his career to lobby against natural gas development, contriving events that attract media, celebrities, and others disinterested in facts.

Much of their criticism has been leveled at Pennsylvanians, painting us as backward, greedy lunkheads who simply can't understand the evil we do. Matt Damon made that point in his movie, "Promised Land," which, incidentally, was funded with oil money from the Middle East, stakeholders who stand to lose much if natural gas is developed here in America. By contrast, "FrackNation" was funded by small donations from individuals on the crowd funding site, Kickstarter.

"FrackNation" is a direct response to "Gasland" and to a lesser degree "Promised Land," but with a complete absence of hysteria and hyperbole. In its place, McAleer relies on his polite, Irish personality to calmly lay out facts and bring forth voices that tell the story in richly human terms. There are no outrageous claims. No fear mongering. No threats of contracting cancer or bringing military-grade radioactive material to Pennsylvania farm fields.

There are farmers from the Delaware River basin who explain how "Gasland" led to a moratorium on drilling in their counties, placing farms and land at risk. It's jarring to meet these thoughtful Pennsylvania farmers after hearing so much about their ignorance from Sean Lennon, John Lennon's son who has made natural gas development his personal rallying cry.

Counter that against the women of Dimock, Pa., who graciously tell their story over a cup of coffee at a kitchen table. Dimock has become ground zero in the hydraulic fracturing water debate, with the EPA recently releasing a report that showed no ground water contamination there. That doesn't surprise some 1,500 Dimock residents who signed a petition in support of natural gas development in the area.

It outrages one of the 11 Dimock townspeople who brought suit and cling to their belief that Cabot Gas poisoned their water. In a climactic scene that will forever recast the Dimock story, McAleer is stopped by the most outspoken of these homeowners, who threatens to sue him for asking questions and then claims to have a gun in her car. In his gracious style, McAleer lets the threat go unclaimed and continues his line of questioning, never to receive a tap water sample for him to test on his own.

Documentaries hold an important place in the public relations arena by paving the avenue by which public opinion is shaped and policy is set. All too often, they come without an ombudsman, the likes of the one who stepped in at The New York Times after the newspaper published outrageously incorrect information about hydraulic fracturing.

McAleer points that out, as well as other anomalies in the generally accepted story about natural gas development and its impact here at ground zero in Pennsylvania. His work is important and a must-see for anyone, especially those who placed so much trust in the storytelling of Josh Fox. By exposing Fox's simple parlor tricks, he's done much to redeem the people I know and trust -- those who work and play in the gas lands of Pennsylvania and would have it no other way.

My last and final post about Lance Armstrong

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:18:33 PST

As Jim Morrison sang, this is the end. The last post I will ever write about Lance Armstrong, the fallen hero of mine. Almost two years ago, I wrote a post offering my suggestions for how Armstrong could preserve his reputation and avoid the train wreck played out last night in Oprah's confessional. It was prophetic. I argued at the time that for Lance, there was no PR magic, no spin, no narrative that could save his ass in the face of an investigation that would ultimately find the truth -- that he lied, he cheated, and he masterminded and perpetrated one of the greatest frauds in sports history.

Instead, I wrote that the only way Armstrong could redeem himself was to tell the truth. Come clean. Call a press conference, tell all, and then make a bold pledge. Promise to invest all his money, might, and political capital in a new venture, one devoted exclusively to ridding sports of drugs.

It would have been a brilliant, unexpected move. One that would have left his critics flat-footed, and provided him an escape value to get on with this life. What he could have, should have done is dedicated the past few years and the rest of this life to working with sports officials, sharing with them all he had learned from cheating, while drawing other athletes into the bright light of fair play.

The plan also would have saved his reputation, extended his stage, and averted looming financial and legal disaster. Lance will spend years in the courtroom and in the end, stand bankrupt to the world. It could have been averted. He should have given it all away in pursuit of clean sport. By doing so, he would have left nothing to the vultures. Oh, they would still have sued, but the money would be safe and sound, working for good instead of returned to insurance companies or eye shade manufacturers or even the very cycling federations that turned a blind eye and enabled the cheat.

The plan would have changed up the narrative of Lance's own life story and given him the proverbial second act, extending olive branches to his victims by naming the institute after LeMond, Andreu, O'Reilly, or any of the others he waged war against. I'd find it hard to imagine the U.S. Postal Service suing Lance to recover money he donated and put to work cleaning up sport. But I do fully believe it will come after him to reclaim its sponsorship dollars in return for dropping federal fraud charges.

This could have been his great next chapter read to a forgiving American public. The Milken of sport. Instead, Lance is more likely to become Pete Rose, reduced to a casino greeter working for tips, a backdrop for gamblers' photo ops. All because of a lack of contrition and redemption -- an inability to find his way -- once out of the saddle and adrift in the real world.

What's old is new again: TVs dominate CES 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Jake Tulsky) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 07:38:07 PST

The coolest technology at this year's CES is a device first envisioned by Philo Farnsworth in 1920. TVs are dominating Central Hall at CES with major manufacturers debuting a host of new designs and functionality. Sony, LG, Sharp, Samsung, and Panasonic are all here, showing off 4K Ultra HD, OLEDs, smart TVs, multi-view 3-D, glasses-free 3-D, and transparent TVs.

Visually, LG's OLED TVs are the most stunning, offering jaw-dropping, crystal-clear pictures. OLEDs use organic, light-emitting chemicals to efficiently radiate a spectacular spectrum of light. They're faster, more energy efficient, and offer more brilliant pictures than even the best plasma, LED, or LCD TVs. In fact, the closer you get to an OLED screen, the better it looks -- so much so that LG reps are urging visitors to practically press their noses to the screen.

Because OLED materials are self-emissive, there is no need for a backlight or other components, allowing the screens to be razor thin. So thin, in fact, that by using plastic instead of glass, OLED displays can be flexible, allowing users to bend or conform a device.

Samsung unveiled flexible displays this week under the Youm brand and reported that flexible OLEDs will soon be in consumers' hands. The first devices will be more curved than truly flexible, but imagine the myriad applications for flexible displays and how they might reshape the way we view content or interact with a device.

But perhaps the coolest theme to emerge from the TV space at CES is smart or social TVs. Picture quality is important -- as is size, weight, and energy efficiency -- but viewers also want to do more with their TVs, just as they have become accustomed to with phones and tablets.

One solution is Panasonic's Viera lineup, which comes equipped with facial recognition technology to automatically serve up customized home pages, full of a viewer's favorite TV shows, movies, and of course, social networks. TV manufacturers are bracing for Apple's much-anticipated TV launch by embedding these technologies now, hopefully precluding Apple's ability to wow consumers with its soon-to-be-announced product.

CES this year is brimming with TVs that are more intuitive, customized, and capable of doing double, triple, and quadruple duty as entertainment, computer, Internet, audio system, and home-based video conferencing studio.

In addition to the big TV players, this year brings a brand-new lineup of Chinese TV manufacturers to CES. Hisense, Konka, Changhong, TCL, Haier, and others all are attracting big attention with TVs that promise to break new ground in terms of lower consumer prices.

Don't be fooled, however. There's nothing second rate about their technology. For instance, Konka is previewing a new transparent TV. Haier's glasses-free 3-D does away with the annoying need to wear the horn rims to enjoy your favorite movie.

Please stay tuned as I wrap up my series on CES here on Gregarious this week.

CES day 1: The odyssey begins

noreply@blogger.com (Jake Tulsky) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:36:19 PST

CES doesn't just showcase the current status of consumer electronics in the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, it also serves as a crash course on promotions and publicity, hype and hyperbole.

For the past 10 years, Gregory FCA has sent a contingent of employees to both support exhibiting clients and to stay fresh with all the latest and greatest wonders that power the dream of tech weenies worldwide. This year is no different. We're here on the ground to be bewitched, bewildered, but never bothered by this year's flurry of consumer electronics goodness.

I am only one day in, but a few themes emerge:

1. Application of accessories. They are everywhere. iPad, iPod, and iPhone accessories to enhance the iUser experience. Some are very special, including our client Carbon Audio's sexy, new Zooka, a Bluetooth iPod, iPad, and iPhone speaker that makes everything you listen to that much louder.

NEXT FRONTIER: Social TV is one of the
biggest technologies to mark CES 2013

2. Social TV. Forget everything you're hearing about ultra HD TV, and the rush to cram more clarity into flat screens. Unfortunately, a dearth of ultra HD content and consumer resistance to trading in their TVs with every new feature (wasn't 3-D last year's big hope?), take some air out of that balloon. Never fear. TV is still a big topic at this year's CES, especially as speculation builds about Apple's entry into this arena. Social TV is the confluence of cable, broadcast, Internet, and smartphone capabilities that promises to free us from our cable boxes by tracking our preferences to drive customized content to our TVs, regardless of where or how it originates. It's a big topic ... and one I will report on in another post.

3. Leveraging your CES investment. And finally, the big take away from day one is how companies are leveraging their one-and-done investments in the show to create content that fuels their external communications programs. I am seeing a lot of company-sponsored video -- short vignettes that are being shot by exhibitors and immediately distributed over social networks. Images, presentations, and PowerPoints are presented and used here on the show floor, and then repurposed as exhibitors push out content to audiences and markets not in attendance. That's great public relations, state-of-the-art stuff that I will share more with you in future updates.

5 fresh, old ideas for a productive 2013 from the smartest people I know

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:29:54 PST

ENERGIZE: Ideas to power up your 2013

I am blessed that over the years, I have worked with smart, bold entrepreneurs who, through their words and deeds, have taught me the real secrets of business, ones that are rarely shared. Over the holiday, I returned in my mind to some of their teachings, and thought 2013 would be a great time to reaffirm their grand conclusions:

1. Sid Friedman on the simple importance of rising early and working hard. For decades, Sid Friedman was one of the country's top insurance salesmen with a style and substance all his own. To meet with Sid, you had to rise early (he has since passed away) and be at his Center City Philadelphia office by 5:30 am. There, behind a huge granite desk, Sid taught me that by starting your day one hour earlier than everyone else, you will work a month and a half more than anyone else each year. A simple lesson that has served me well over the years.

2. Brian O'Neill on the value of storytelling. Brian is one of the most inventive entrepreneurs I have ever had the pleasure to work with and an evangelist for the power of storytelling. I, along with my colleagues Mike Lizun and Joe Crivelli, spent many days projecting copy on a screen as we would work collaboratively to create the story in back of the story for one of his projects. Fact driven, but also lyrical and grand in theme, his stories served as the blueprint for his real estate empire, and our promotional efforts.

3. Dan Roitman on the power of business analytics. He's only in his 30s, but Dan gave me a concentrated course this past year on business analytics and continually optimizing your business. A deep and penetrating mind, Dan draws from all possible sources -- books, mentors, seminars -- to learn more about business, rules he then applies to a business, Stroll, that is growing exponentially each year. He does it all through small, incremental improvements that compound over time, an approach we can all use to improve our own success.

4. Rich Levin on constant change and staying relevant. Rich is a colleague of mine here at Gregory FCA who constantly emphasizes the need to stay ahead of the communications curve. He's the first guy who, for me, was able to connect public relations to business development in real and measurable ways. He has helped to power me forward over the past few years with fresh, new ideas. Sometimes kicking and screaming, but always with fun and excitement.

5. Miles Spencer on how to shape the future. I first met Miles when he was an aspiring TV star, creating and hosting a PBS show. At the time, it was programming no better than local public access. But Miles saw something much bigger and knew how to get there. We rode "MoneyHunt" to dizzying heights during the giddy tech bubble of the early 2000s. Miles since has continually dazzled me with an ability to foretell the future and mold it to his liking. Writing screenplays, building businesses, and someday diplomatting his way to some far off land, Miles has taught me how to always be skating to where the puck will be, rather than where it has been.

So some simple lessons learned over 20 years of entrepreneurship ... work hard, craft your story well, constantly optimize and improve, stay current, and visualize the future. Not bad advice as we move into 2013.

2013: The breakout year for RIA firms as content marketers

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Anthony) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:41:56 PST

BREAKING OUT: RIAs will be taking
content marketing to new levels in 2013

In the past decade spent working closely with registered investment advisory (RIA) firms around the country, I can't think of a single advisor who thinks that 1 + 1 = 3. However, as social media moves past the nascent stage within the financial services community, that sort of math can add up.

What started with curious early adopters has become a steady flow of RIAs that are seeing how the potency of traditional publicity surges when paired with the ability to share information and influence audiences via social networks.

The RIAs that have taken the plunge are seeing that putting the two together adds up to a better return on investment. And, for that reason, that is why we see 2013 shaping up to be the breakout year for RIA firms as content marketers.

According to a study done jointly between LinkedIn and FTI Consulting, more than 50 percent of advisors expect "social media to play a significant role in their marketing efforts in 2013," while seven in 10 advisors report that they already use social media for business purposes. The reality is, many RIA firms have already put the powerful combination of PR and social media together in a potent content marketing package.

At the 2012 Schwab IMPACT Conference, held in November in Chicago, Glassman Wealth Services out of McLean, Va., was recognized with Schwab's Pacesetter IMPACT Award. In the press release issued by Schwab, Glassman Wealth Services was cited for being "a pioneer in social media and a thought leader in the RIA industry" -- a statement that in itself underscores how far the industry has come in terms of embracing the value of social media and thought leadership PR.

RIA firms operate in a relationships-and-trust business, where the concept of "refer-ability" can be influenced by a third-party view of your professional credibility. The impact of being featured in an esteemed publication like The Wall Street Journal, multiplied by the power of the advisor's network, goes far beyond what RIA firms had at their disposal just five years ago.

The media and media relations in 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Lizun) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 11:29:33 PST

THE NEW NEWS: Companies will need
to continue to adapt in 2013

Just like in 2012, and the previous 15 years I've spent in and around the media and practicing media relations, 2013 will once again bring rapid and daily change. I've seen the most dramatic shifts and changes in media in the last five years, along with changes in the methods and tools to adapt.

For those of us that practice media relations, what new trends will emerge in the media and what tactics will you need to employ to adapt this time?

First, it is easier than ever to follow and properly communicate with journalists. For example, you can follow @muckrack and get real-time and daily digests of journalists' tweets about the topics, industries, and subjects of interest to you and your clients.

Following the conversations, and quickly identifying the topics they are discussing, and possibly looking for sources for these topics, is crucial for PR pros. Never mind the lists. Instead, use a tool like this to focus on the conversation and what the journalists are discussing, and you will be better prepared to help them and offer up the right source at the right time.

Now here is something that might seem obvious, but it is often overlooked. Unless your company is in the headlines daily and is a market leader, you need to tie your news (and today, your data) to the companies and topics that are getting the page views and driving traffic to stories. If you are a smaller, less-known company, this is more important now than ever.

The competition for readers is getting fierce, and if your story, data, angle, or analysis can somehow be tied to the major businesses being discussed and covered daily, you will greatly increase your chances of making the news. Remember, it's not the job of a reporter to cover your company or your angle. Their job is to cover the news.

PR pros need to get comfortable with -- and get their clients comfortable with -- live video interviews via Skype and Google Hangouts. More media than ever are creating quick video interviews. They need media-ready sources that can connect via Skype and provide a comment at a moment's notice.

According to Sam Whitmore, Founder and Editor of Sam Whitmore's Media Survey, a trend he sees and one that needs to be addressed with companies in 2013 is "Skype media training, because we're seeing more and more of many-to-many IP TV experiences."

Sam shared this example with me of a Spreecast video from the WSJ.com, a video chat with a start-up mentor talking about business models vs. business plans. Video is a great tool, but requires solid camera skills and the ability to connect with your audience. So, get on Skype, get comfortable, and offer this option to the media.

Another example is Google Hangouts. This alone is worth being on Google+ and gaining a better understanding of this social network and the impact it is already having and will continue to have in 2013 and beyond.

What is the attraction? It's live, it's video, it's many-to-many, and it also gives reporters the ability to connect directly with their audience and drive audience participation. In fact, up to 10 people can hangout at a time. This can create quite the round table conversation, offer up varying opinions, and since you can broadcast live via YouTube, open up the story to potentially thousands or millions more to watch and interact via the social plugins.

Let's take a look at some other ways stories were told in 2012, and will continue to evolve in 2013.

Creating mobile videos. What is the best camera? Well, it's the one you have with you, and today, it's your phone. Millions of us are carrying video cameras every day, but we don't often think how they can help us do our job, or help create content for clients in real time -- at conferences, after a meeting, during or after lunch.

The GIF. Wow, how many animated GIFs did you see this year? They were once a geeky, little way to have some fun. Now legitimate and mainstream news sources are sharing and creating these GIFs to tell a story. Look for more of these in 2013.

News will continue to break on Twitter first. News is breaking all the time, and it can be created or spread by anyone with a Twitter account. It can move fast, and the media will continue to find and identify sources of information around this breaking news via Twitter, the actual witnesses of the event. Not all tweets and the sources of the tweets can be trusted, so media will always be looking for people/sources to confirm what's been tweeted.

Google+. In 2013, the use of Google+ will rise in the news business. Why? Search and visibility.

Reddit and AMAs. Reddit is a social news and entertainment website where the registered users submit content in the form of either a link or a text "self" post. Other users then vote the submission up or down, which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page. The description of Reddit by Reddit is: the front page of the Internet. This might not be too far off. Not only is news created and tons of information shared here, but sources are found. Even President Obama and his communications team thought enough of Reddit and its influence to let the audience ask him anything, and he answered. This Forbes article describes it as: "It's like the Barbara Walters' tell-all for a new generation, where the questions are actually probing and the celebrity actually matters to the fans." Sure, if you already are a name and recognized, you will get questions. But there are certainly opportunities here for anyone, because every topic and subject imaginable has a section on Reddit. Be mindful, this is not a place to spam and market. Bring value to the community, or stay out.

Mobile first. Check out this story from the Nieman Journalism Lab, and particularly, this quote from Fiona Spruill: "The numbers speak for themselves. In the next 12-18 months, many news organizations will cross the 50 percent threshold where more users are visiting on phones and tablets than on desktop computers and laptops." She also points out that the audience on smartphones is much younger and more international. How will news organizations adjust to this? How will your storytelling and the assets you create for storytelling evolve in 2013 to help reporters reach this mobile audience?

What about the big players? The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and others? Without a doubt in my mind, influential media, both individuals and the organizations, most of the household news names we know, will continue to drive innovation, and lead the news coverage of companies, new products, and conversations.

In many cases, the conversation will start with them. In other cases, it will continue to bubble up from blogs and tweets. We might be reading their stories more and more on a smartphone or tablet, or as a tweet first, but it will be the same big news names innovating and trying new ways to drive us to the full story.

By now, you are probably asking yourself, well, what about the big (traditional) news names? They will continue to bring us the major information that we can't or won't find for or by ourselves. If the news is finding you today, it's probably because you are following The New York Times in your Facebook feed, or @BreakingNews in your Twitter stream.

We trust the major media to review products; dig deep into a topic; uncover stories; tell us something we didn't know, need to know, should know, can't possibly understand without multiple sides being presented. The news we read and share is the information that drives us to create new products, forces us to be different or better, and challenges us to strive for market share or capture new users. It makes us think and moves us to act.

Today, most of the conversations about and around the news happen online, on social sites, and in blog comments. Many reporters are relying on some of these sites to find stories and identify sources. The major names in news will remain. They just might look a whole lot different by the end of 2013.

Happy holidays, with some fun

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Matusky) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 07:40:22 PST

Our team thought we'd bring some fun to your holidays with this greeting card we created. Click the image for a few seasonal funnies -- social media style. We wish everyone a wonderful holiday season, and a new year filled with happiness and success.