Archive: February 2015

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Social Buttons for Sale, Misguided Measurement and Telling Stories is Hard

The grab bag makes its second appearance this year. Again, these are topics that can’t quite stand on their own, but I found worth highlighting. Social Buttons for Sale? Go to virtually any online media property and you’ll find two social buttons, Twitter and Facebook. The big two dominate the sharing of media stories. But …more

Time for PR to Rally Behind “Earned Search”

I spoke on “PR and SEO. No Longer a Match Made in Hell” at the Holmes Innovation Summit last week. In the course of preparing for the talk, I had a Mt. Sinai moment. Imagine the advertising world foisting the term “organic media” on the PR industry to replace “earned media.” We would have a …more

PR and SEO. No Longer a Match Made in Hell.

This headline served as the title for my talk at the Holmes Innovation Summit on Tuesday. The pulpit gave me an opportunity to evangelize one of my favorite causes, the opportunity for PR to jump into the SEO game. Stepping back for a minute, the genius of Google’s advertising model for search lies in allowing …more

How B2B Companies Can Bring Method to the Social Media Madness

I saw a LinkedIn study that claimed that 84 percent of B2B executives source social media to make a purchasing decision. Even if the stat is on the high side (skewed by LinkedIn’s agenda), the fact that B2B buyers (like the rest of the human race) spend more time online means more time on social …more

Contrast as a Storytelling Technique in Business Communications

In conducting our storytelling workshops, the concept of contrast is one technique that always resonates with participants. I think of contrast as a poor man’s failure. Several posts have highlighted the power of failure in lifting a narrative, but most companies won’t go there. When was the last time a CEO barked “OK, let’s focus …more

Six Things That Might Surprise You About Silicon Valley

I attended the Joint Venture Silicon Valley (JVSV) annual conference last week, which in essence delivers the Valley’s version of the State of the Union. Silicon Valley being Silicon Valley, no byte was left unturned. What’s called the Silicon Valley Index packs enough information to appease the most strident data scientist. Want to know how …more

Six Tips for the World’s Most Underrated Social Media Platform

We are fans of SlideShare as a platform for business storytelling. The odometer on our SlideShare — we’ve posted six decks since 2011 — just passed the 100,000 views mark, not too shabby for a communications consultancy that works behind the curtain. While consumer brands use SlideShare, its marriage of in-depth content and social make …more