The vast majority of companies invest in public relations to raise their public profiles — and with a little luck, fortify the corporate brand. Then, there are the situations in which PR becomes a blunt instrument in a public spat, and the objective becomes exerting as much pain on your opponent as possible. That’s what …more
This quote from John F. Kennedy is one of my favorites and definitely relevant to the Agency’s trajectory. Last year was the first time in our history that all geographies — Asia, the U.S. and Europe — generated double-digit growth. From this position of strength, we’ve made several recent changes, including the hiring of Mark …more
I don’t smoke. I rarely drink more than two Old Fashioneds at a sitting. If I have a weakness, it’s called WG Yogurt. Their root beer yogurt deserves a Michelin star — “creamy with hints of cherry tree bark.” What does this have to do with business writing? During my last stop at WG Yogurt, …more
Mantra for the Digital Age: Judge a Book by Its Cover By Nicole Rideout, The Hoffman Agency It’s true when they say that you never get a second chance at a first impression, and it’s no exception in visual content marketing campaigns; according to researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, it takes …more
Native advertising is all the rage in the publishing world. I read a statistic last week that most publications are at least experimenting with the concept. For those of you not familiar with native advertising, it refers to a publication serving up paid stories and editorial content the same way. You’ll hear this technique also …more
The grab-bag post returns in 2013, offering a platform for three vignettes. Crafted for easy consumption, here goes – Amazon Continues to Embrace Content Marketing Religion There’s much to be learned from the heavyweight media companies. Like a poker player with most of the chips, they’ve got the war chest to push the boundaries of …more
I participated on a panel called “Creating and Leveraging Epic Content” at the UBM Electronics Marketing Summit last week. An earlier session at the Summit flashed the following words: It’s really hard to write quality content. Note the slide didn’t say “It’s really hard to write content.” Anyone can write content. That’s easy. It’s the …more
Traffic to news sites increasingly comes in through the side doors, that is, from search and social means. Adrienne LaFrance recently wrote on this very topic for Nieman Lab: As with newspapers – which haven’t so much disappeared as been pushed off center stage – few are saying that homepages will disappear completely. But as …more
