Ever since Barak Obama parlayed digital pyrotechnics into a stay in the White House, politicians have embraced the online world with the fervor of a Tuscaloosa preacher. If digital could be a difference-maker in an election, it seems logical to think that Silicon Valley — the place where construction workers use Yelp to find restaurants, …more
I’ve explored how non-designers in the communications business can get the visual storytelling religion. While the vast majority of PR folks struggle to bring a visual dimension to communications, there’s a design technique that plays to our strength. What I call “word visuals” come in three flavors: Clever words that stand on their own: The …more
Previous posts have discussed the challenge for PR folks to embrace visual storytelling in communications. Coming from the world of words (WOW), we’re typically not schooled in design and the creation of visuals . But as PR increasingly manages owned media properties like blogs, we should be taking a page — taking a visual doesn’t …more
The grab bag returns. For those new to the neighborhood, these posts consist of three vignettes that caught my attention, but don’t have enough substance for a stand-alone post. Here goes — People Don’t Actually Like Creativity That was the headline in a Slate article taking the position that most people don’t like creativity: “We …more
Every PR agency and internal PR function strives to communicate positive stories about the organizations it supports. When we capture storytelling assets for one of our clients, no one proactively comes forth to share the time that something went horribly wrong. Yet, failure is one of the best techniques to bring tension or even drama …more
It’s been a tough few days for Mr. Wilde. Since his communications in handing Madison Bumgarner the MVP trophy for the World Series and keys to a Chevy Colorado, the media has crushed Mr. Wilde (and those were the nice ones). While Mr. Wilde’s LinkedIn profile isn’t exactly enlightening, we can safely assume that when …more
Several years ago we interviewed 65 sales people at major computer retailers (Best Buy, Fry’s, etc.) asking the key question, “What third-party sources do you depend on for information to help you in your day-to-day job?” They could answer with as many sources as they liked. This way, we could better target the media properties …more
People often assume that I’m anti-Facebook just because I’m the only human being in Silicon Valley without a Facebook page. Not true. For consumer companies, Facebook offers one of the easiest platforms for brand storytelling. Take that photo of a customer smiling over the company’s product/service or that video of employees raising money for a …more
Search Engine Watch blasted out this headline and accompanying post last week. It’s yet another piece of evidence for why we’re (and public relations) in a better position than SEO consultancies to implement organic search campaigns. As discussed before, the SEO consulting industry sprung out of Google’s license to print money which goes by the …more
