The Innovator's Mic: Recent Episodes
March Communications
The Innovator’s Mic, from March Communications, explores technology, innovation and the people who make it happen. Each episode we’ll pick the brains of true innovators who hail from across the technology, marketing and PR worlds, getting into the weeds of what makes them tick, how they get their stories out there, and what they’re focused on right now. From AI to health tech to diversity and inclusion in tech, listen in as we discuss the intricacies of what it’s like to have a tech insider’s knowledge with an outsider’s perspective. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on social media @marchcomms to be the first to know who’s on the mic next.
Ada Developers Academy seeks to change a lack of diversity in tech by creating a learning platform that trains women and gender-expansive people to enter the industry and reach their goals. Students can come to hold jobs with tech giants like Amazon, Google and Microsoft after just one year, most of them witnessing life changing salary increases.
In this episode Jodi Petrie, March EVP, and Lauren Sato, CEO of Ada, discussed the reality of the tech world today and how Ada is playing a role in propelling the careers of minorities in the tech world and changing the tech landscape to be a level playing field for all.
Brands already know how powerful social media is when it comes to engaging with your audience. But posting and putting their own ideas out there is just a piece of engaging with audiences - if brands pay attention, they can learn more about their audiences and connect more deeply.
In this episode Zorina Akhund, Social Media Associate at March, spoke with Nicole Tabak, Community and Content Manager at Own Up, about how brands can benefit from social listening and achieve success through a proactive strategy that analyzes audience, target market and competitor data.
Big news! We've been acquired by Walker Sands, a full-service, award-winning integrated marketing agency based in Chicago.
We wanted all of you to hear why we’re so excited about this partnership straight from the source – which is why we’ve invited Mike Santoro, CEO of Walker Sands, to join our co-founders, CEO Martin Jones and President Cheryl Gale, on today’s podcast.
Healthcare is evolving in parallel with consumer tech and more patients are relying on digital tools that brings care into their homes. This virtual shift, plus the new tools making it possible, improves healthcare access and speeds delivery.
Marchers Kelsey Johnson, Account Supervisor, and Regan Schiappa, Account Coordinator, discussed how innovation has taken at-home health tech from a possibility to the expectation.
Just over one year ago, the first widespread lockdowns due to Covid-19 outbreaks went into effect across the US. Since then a lot has happened for organizations and their PR & marketing plans.
March Senior Account Executive, Tom Korolyshun, spoke with three March account leads about how objectives evolved and strategies shifted under unknown and constantly changing circumstances. The crew discussed what changed for their accounts as a result of the pandemic, learnings from the last year, and the lasting impact on PR and marketing as we move forward.
Sena Pottackal shares her experience as a legally blind woman navigating opportunities in the PR & comms industry. She talked about what it's like to lobby employers to reimagine workplace roles with more accessibility and inclusivity in mind, what’s missing from today’s industry conversations around inclusion, and what PR leaders and hiring managers need to know about in order to make accessibility more of a priority.
Coming up on one year of a mostly virtual world, we're talking about how the virtual events have become the norm and show no signs of slowing down.
March Account Director Hailey Melamut spoke with Samantha Powers, Account Supervisor, and Janabeth Ward, Senior Account Executive, to talk about how they're working with clients to navigate this new landscape - both tapping into industry conferences that have moved online, and reimagining clients' own user conferences and events for virtual formats.
In the spirit of Black History Month, today we're talking about our latest Overbooked Book Club choice – Race After Technology,
Marchers Zorina Akhund and Franki Darnold take us through a brief background on the book’s author, Ruha Benjamin and her achievements as a writer and professor. They also cover few major themes of the book – including, how racism is deeply engrained in technology, Benjamin’s coined phrase: “The New Jim Code,” and how discriminatory design impacts the way we interact with tech. Finally, Zorina and Franki answer the overarching question of Race After Technology: Are robots racist?
Over the past year we’ve been thinking about how to refocus our podcast approach. Now more than ever, we want to hear from those powering our Innovation Inside Out mantra. That’s why we’re more committed than ever to passing the mic to the incredible minds rethinking the future and the communicators who work to shape their stories. Hearing more voices, with unique perspectives, to get a better understanding of the innovators behind the innovation. Welcome to The Innovator’s Mic.
We’re kicking off by passing the mic around for four conversations between eight Marchers, riffing off what they’re looking forward to in PR & tech this year. The team covered a lot in little time, from corporate DEI efforts, to game-changing tech, to paid content and social programs.
We’re switching things up on Hacks and Flacks today. This year March Communications celebrated 15 years as a tech PR agency. To mark the occasion, we're taking a moment to not only reflect on these past 15 years, but also think about what the next 15 could look like. Who better to do so than our co-founders Cheryl Gale and Martin Jones? Martin’s up this week, covering COVID-19 and the PR industry, what clients want from agencies right now, and PR’s role in mitigating misinformation.
Cheryl Gale, President of March, chatted with Samantha Mayowa, Head of Global Communications at VMware Carbon Black. Cheryl and Samantha talked about how much headspace PR leaders have dedicated to DEI up to now, specifically in Boston where the PR scene remains predominantly white despite a diverse talent pool available. Samantha also shared ways that these PR pros can expand their reach to give more people a seat at the table, as well as advice for candidates with unique backgrounds frustrated by inclusivity challenges.
Mental health has taken a more prominent space in the public consciousness, especially in light of the pandemic. Headspace, a global leader in mindfulness through its app and online content offerings, is one of many apps folks are turning to during these times. The company even launched free services and offerings to users in response to COVID.
On today's episode Olivia DeJesse, Senior PR Associate at Headspace, covers the ins and outs of wellness tech PR. We discuss how the market is growing, the role of influencer marketing, and answer the question: are certain consumers being under-served or overlooked?
Artificial intelligence is a technology that shows a lot of promise but it's also one that brings up a lot of ethical questions around data privacy, transparency, bias, and more.
As VP of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at Samasource, Heather Gadonniex has a lot of perspective on these issues. Today, Samasource is an impact-driven for-profit tech company. Heather’s professional background – and Samasource’s founding story – both sit at the intersections of impact and growth. Heather shares lessons and insights on impact marketing, product marketing, and ethics in AI.
We cover all of that and more in an interview that will be helpful to any marketer and PR pro who needs to tell the story of complex industries with thorny issues.
How can something as cold and calculating as a computer actually make people feel more connected to each other?
The new memoir from Affectiva CEO and founder Rana el Kaliouby talks about her personal mission to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us. The book is called Girl Decoded and it was the selection for the latest installment Overbooked, the March book club.
Hailey Melamut and Janabeth Ward join the show today to discuss its most important themes, including the mission to more humanity to tech interactions, the state of racial diversity in tech, and the unique challenges of being a woman and a leader in a male-dominated industry.
Overbooked rolls on. Every quarter, we’ll select a book with a technology innovation theme to read together, and we’ll be announcing our next selection soon. If you have any ideas or recommendations on great books to read, tweet us @MarchComms.
Many of us know that we should probably be eating better. But sometimes good information on nutrition feels hard to come by and even harder to follow - especially for those who don't have easy access to affordable food or knowledge.
Sandy Purewal, a former PR professional turned well tech entrepreneur, is the founder of Superfied. His goal is to make everyone self-sufficient in their everyday wellbeing by changing the way they think about food - what they eat, how they eat, when they eat - and why it matters.
We talk to Sandy about whole-body health, about the rise in well tech and the trends that define that market, including some of the consumer trends identified in March's Year of Smart Living report. And we ask Sandy what marketers should know about wellness in a future that's increasingly being shaped by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The team here at March has been reading Girl Decoded: A Scientist's Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology, the memoir by March client, and Affectiva CEO Rana el Kaliouby, along with co-author Carol Colman.
On today's podcast, March Account Supervisor Hailey Melamut discusses her unique role as the book launch manager, which placed her in the middle of the book publishing, distribution, and promotional process. It's a behind the scenes look at what goes into book marketing.
Our chat also offers valuable lessons in how to pivot - Rana's book was published on April 21, which meant that many of the promotional activities occurred during the COVID-19 outbreak, which naturally meant a lot of big changes to the marketing plan. Find out what they did to make it all work.
For many people around the country, we're approaching nearly two full months of self-isolation due to COVID-19. The pandemic has affected our way of life in so many ways, and that's no different for the public relations industry.
Marketers, PR pros, and communicators have had to navigate a new reality where news coverage is so focused on the medical, economic, and social impacts of the virus. It's really hard to talk about anything without also talking about the coronavirus, which means brands have to be careful about how they choose to present their business at this time.
T. Garland Stansell is the newly elected Chair of the Public Relations Society of America. He is also the Chief Communications Officer for Children's of Alabama. He joined Hacks and Flacks to discuss how brands are changing the way they communicate and the long-term impact of this pandemic on the public relations industry.
These were already turbulent times for journalism, and that was before a global pandemic put issues like trust, bias, and the impact of digital technology into even sharper focus.
Cision has published its 2020 State of the Media Survey. They received more than 3,000 responses from journalists in print, broadcast, digital, and social media across 15 countries. The results paint a picture of an industry that is coping with new and familiar challenges in the wake of COVID-19 but also shows signs of optimism for the role that journalism will play in the recovery.
Seth Gilpin, Product Marketing Manager at Cision, joins Hacks and Flacks to cover the major insights from the survey, including important lessons that PR and communications professionals need to know. How can PR professionals support journalists at this time, and how do journalists feel about the future of their industry?
Download the 2020 State of the Media Survey: https://www.cision.com/us/resources/research-reports/state-of-the-media/
Register for Cision's 11th Annual State of the Media LIVE! (4/28 from 2-3pm ET): https://www.cision.com/us/resources/webinars-events/2020-state-of-the-media-live-stream/
Guests include Anthony Ha of TechCrunch, Sarah Paynter of Yahoo Finance, and Julie Carl of the Toronto Star
Tech media expert Sam Whitmore has been producing in-depth coverage of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the tech media. You can read all of his coverage over at mediasurvey.com. Today he joins the show to tell us how the tech media is handling the crisis, how coverage has changed, and what PR professionals should expect when they engage reporters.
March Vice President Kelly O'Brien covers the PR and brand side of the equation. What are some of the dos and don’ts around engaging journalists, which brands are rising to the occasion during this tense time, and how will this all shake out in the long run for our industries?
It's an old trope, but there's a reason why people say "a picture is worth a thousand words." Visual images tell a powerful story: human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text, and research shows images are much more persuasive than text alone.
Shlomi Ron, CEO of Visual Storytelling Institute, understands the power of visual storytelling. He turned his passion for Italian cinema into an agency that works with clients to help them harness the effectiveness of visual media. On today's show, he explains how visual stories can help brands stand out in a crowded marketing landscape, and explains some of the core principles that make up great visual stories.
Shlomi also hosts the Visual Storytelling Today podcast and runs the Italian cinema blog cafe Pellicola.
Looking for remote content marketing ideas? March partner Owen Mack of Cobrandit Video joins Hacks and Flacks to discuss the different ways you can create professional-quality videos from home. We cover the tools, tips, and strategies you’ll need to improve the visual and audio quality of your online meetings, turn PowerPoint presentations into engaging video, repurpose existing video assets, and start producing your own live streams.
For more virtual marketing ideas and tips, check out recent pieces from the March team:
- Maintaining Agency Life & Business in These Strange Times
- How to Launch a Low-Budget Corporate Podcast in Under a Week
Wellness tech is a hot trend, and consumers today are trying more apps that promise to help them live longer, look great, and feel better, too. But is all of this technology and innovation actually making us healthier and making our lives better?
March's recent consumer survey - part of the Year of Smart Living - examined the impact of technology on health and wellness, and the role of marketers and brands that want to convince consumers that they’re making the right choices.
To learn more, we talked with one of the exciting brands in the wellness space: FitGenie. They are an Atlanta-based startup that offers nutrition planning combined with meal delivery. On today's show, founders Obi Anachebe and Keith Osayande discuss what's important to consumers in the wellness tech space and how they built an app that makes a positive difference to users.
How do misunderstandings happen? What actually went wrong when someone didn’t pick up on your message, or even worse, interpreted your words in a way that was completely different than you intended? It happens to people, of course, and these days it’s happening to a lot of brands, too, who find themselves facing consequences as a result.
A new bestseller from Malcolm Gladwell tackles the challenges of communication. His book is called “Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know,” and it was the selection for the latest installment Overbooked, the March book club.
In this episode, Marchers Kelsey Johnson and Molly Masi recap the major themes from ‘Talking to Strangers’ and talk about issues of trust and transparency in marketing and communications. EVP Jodi Petrie also joins to answer an important question: how can brands earn trust from consumers who are increasingly skeptical?
Overbooked continues in 2020: Every quarter, we’ll select a book with a technology innovation theme to read together, and we’ll be announcing our next selection soon. If you have any ideas or recommendations on great books to read, tweet us @MarchComms.
Brands today are trying to reach buyers and influence audiences all around the world. When the time comes to run an international PR campaign in Europe, APAC, or elsewhere, where should a brand turn?
At March, global PR has been in our DNA since the very beginning, which is also why we're a longstanding member of ION, a global network of more than 40 agencies in countries around the world. It was launched by Octopus Group, a UK-based agency, and on this episode, Octopus Group co-founder Pete Hendrick covers the formation of ION, its role in helping brands reach global scale, and the market-by-market differences brands encounter when running international PR campaigns in Europe.
As the old saying goes, you are judged by the company you keep. That's true for many businesses today, including PR agencies. Those companies are being asked, sometimes by their own employees, to distance themselves from problematic people or organizations. March founders Martin Jones and Cheryl Gale discuss this issue through the lens of PR agencies. Should agencies move on from a client if their employees aren't comfortable with it? And how much of a say should employees have in the work the agency takes on?
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In October 2019, March supported our client Affectiva at their third Emotion AI summit, which explored a human-centric approach to AI with leaders from across the industry. In this episode, we talk with Affectiva Events Manager Ashleen Bershad and March Account Supervisor Hailey Melamut to discuss the ins and outs of corporate event planning. They share tips on how to stay on-schedule and on-budget, maximize your event ROI with content, and talk about the pivotal role PR and comms agency can play in supporting a client event.
A new bestseller from philanthropist and entrepreneur Melinda Gates tackles issues of gender equality and women's empowermnet. Her book "The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World," proposes that if you want to lift an entire society - all genders - you need to invest in women.
On this episode of Hacks and Flacks, Account Supervisor Kylle Sullivan and Senior Account Executive Bill Moody recap the major themes from the book and also discuss the issue of gender equality through the lens of the tech and PR industries.
We also hear from Cheryl Gale, co-founder and president of March, on the unique paradox facing many women in PR: despite the fact that women make up between 60 to 80 percent of the PR workforce, only 20 percent of the senior leadership positions at PR agencies are held by women.
Overbooked continues in Q4: Every quarter, we’ll select a book with a technology innovation theme to read together, and we’ll be announcing our next selection soon. If you have any ideas or recommendations on great books to read, tweet us @MarchComms.
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Link building - the practice of securing backlinks to your website from other sites that have more authority - is a classic SEO practice. But it's typically a practice reserved for digital marketers or content managers. What do PR professionals need to know about it, and should they be more involved?
After all, when done well, the practice of link building mirrors the day-to-day of many PR pros. It involves research, outreach, and relationship building. And, backlinks from news sites offer some of the best SEO value on the web.
In this episode, Ashton Meisner of Directive Consulting, a search engine marketing agency, explains why PR professionals are the right people for the job when it comes to securing quality backlinks from reputable websites, and offers gives tips on how to apply a little bit of SEO strategy to your media outreach.
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Going to a trade show? Putting on your first corporate event? Well, then you must have a well-thought content strategy already planned out... right? If the answer is no, this podcast is for you. We talk to content marketing expert Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer at The Content Advisory, to get his tips on how to plan and execute on an effective content strategy for events.
As he explains, most companies don't leverage their events for the ongoing content that they can provide. He's got advice on how to create great material before, during and after a show, including some lessons learned from putting on the Content Marketing Institute's annual Content Marketing World show.
show notes * 69% of B2B companies plan to increase their budget for in-person events this year https://welcome.bizzabo.com/b2b-tech-trends-2019 * 76% of B2B marketers think events are their most successful top-of-the-funnel demand gen tactic. http://view.ceros.com/g3-communications/dg093-surv/p/1 * WhatPods
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Summertime is the season for beach trips and blockbusters. It's also one of the busiest times of the marketing year for GasBuddy, the leading provider of real-time gas prices on mobile and the web. On this week's Hacks and Flacks we ask GasBuddy CMO Mike DiLorenzo how his team leverages seasonality in their marketing strategy. He also talks data-driven PR and marketing, and the benefit of having a clearly defined "brand villian" to position your company against in the minds of consumers.
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The story behind Theranos became a media sensation, with books, podcasts, documentaries and, soon, a movie all charting the highs and lows of the much-hyped health tech “unicorn” that falsely promised to change the way blood is tested.
But on this episode, March's Rebecca Ferrick and Angelica Bishop explain why Theranos also offers a cautionary tale for journalists, PR, and marketing pros about the line between hype and deception. We're covering Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, as the latest selection of the Overbooked book club.
Overbooked will keep on rolling in Q3: Every quarter, we’ll select a book with a technology innovation theme to read together, and we’ll be announcing our next selection soon. If you have any ideas or recommendations on great books to read, tweet us @MarchComms.
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The wellness tech industry encompasses much more than fitness bands and apps. There's lots of innovation happening in the way consumers monitor and improve their nutrition, sleep, mental health, and even plan for end-of-life care. On this week's Hacks and Flacks we talk to March's resident wellness tech experts, Kalyn Schieffer and Kelsey Johnson, to understand how this industry is evolving and the things tech PR and marketing professionals need to know to help well-tech brands tell their story.
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The principles of good marketing - know your customer, build a brand, find creative ways to tell your story - apply in any business, including brewing. To find out how craft breweries stand out in an increasingly competitive space, Manny and guest host Lizzy Snell talked to Liz and Jared Kiraly, the owners of Bone Up Brewing Company in Everett, Massachusetts. They tell the story behind Bone Up, their quirky mascot Horatio, and how Liz applied her design and marketing background toward creating a fun, social beer brand.
Subscribe to Bone Up's blog at boneup.beer/blog
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Chris Penn, co-founder of Trust Insights and an authority on analytics, digital marketing and marketing tech, joins Hacks and Flacks to tell us about the latest advancements in data science for marketing and public relations. We discuss artificial intelligence and machine learning for marketing, the connection between SEO and PR, and he provides some definitive answers on some of our team's lingering PR and marketing questions - like what's the rule around duplicate content and keyword density?
links * Check out Chris's latest book, AI for Marketers (Second Edition) at AIforMarketersBook.com * Find free courses from Google Analytics and HubSpot * Find free statistics courses on MIT OpenCourseWare
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March's Kelly O'Brien and Alex Jafarzadeh chop it up over Conversational Marketing, the new release from Drift's David Cancel & Dave Gerhardt and the first selection of Overbooked, the new March book club. Alex and Kelly talk about the lessons that PR professionals and marketers can learn from the book, including insights on customer loyalty and why it's important to market like you're an actual human being.
Plus, we feature bonus audio from Dave Gerhardt's recent appearance at the March Innovators Collective, where he talks about the role social proof played in creating buzz for Conversational Marketing before its release.
Overbooked will keep on rolling in Q2: Every quarter, we’ll select a hot new release with a technology innovation theme to read together, and we'll be announcing our next selection in April. If you have any ideas or recommendations on great books to read, Tweet us @MarchComms.
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True to our credo - "Innovation Inside Out" - March has launched a series of events called the March Innovators Collective (MIC). Our first event was held in early March (appropriate), and where EVP Jodi Petrie hosted a panel discussion with three Boston marketing luminaries: Jeanne Hopkins of Lola.com, Jessica Meher of Notarize, and Dave Gerhardt of Drift.
The conversation covered a lot of ground: what's in the DNA of a good marketer? What marketing trends need to go away? How can brands build communities of loyal buyers? Jeanne, Jessica, and Dave give their expert answers, and in this episode, we present the live audio from the panel discussion. And, in a one-on-one conversation with Jodi, Dave shares one tip that came in handy when marketing his new book "Conversational Marketing," which we think is great advice for marketing just about anything.
The concept of influencer marketing is nothing new, but it's been in the news a lot lately. And brands are more interested than ever in partnerships for sales, awareness or engagement campaigns. In this episode, we tackle influencer marketing from several different angles.
First, we interview Jess Ann Kirby, an influencer who has worked directly with brands, to find out how this works as a content creator. You can follow Jess Ann Kirby at her website www.jessannkirby.com and podcast Cozy Ranch Radio.
Then, March Director of Digital Services Caroline Black and Account Director/Zoom practice lead Kelly O'Brien share best practices and explain how influencer marketing is paid marketing, but managed like a PR relationship.
Links:
- The Ringer: The Influencer Who Didn’t Influence: Luka Sabbat and the Fame Economy of 2018
- The Atlantic: Rising Instagram Stars Are Posting Fake Sponsored Content
When most people think about innovation they might focus on innovative technology. But there is also a lot of innovation occurring in storytelling and communications. Customers are more discerning in both consumer and B2B environments, so it means businesses of all kinds have to find creative ways to tell compelling stories to buyers. Diana Marszalek, senior reporter at The Holmes Report, just finished a series of articles on this topic, and she tells us what she heard from brands and agencies on both sides of this challenge.
Read the series here:
Brand Storytelling Driven By Purpose, New Platforms
Brands Mix Traditional Storytelling And 21st Century Techniques In Driving Their Messages
On this week's Hacks and Flacks, we discuss the growing podcasting industry and the continued challenges around podcast discovery. Kevin Goldberg, founder and editor of DiscoverPods, joins the show to recap his ongoing coverage of a scheme in which fraudsters are gaming the Apple Podcasts charts to make their shows appear more popular than they really are, and why that's making things harder for podcast listeners.
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On this week's Hacks and Flacks, we discuss the concept of a brand story. First, we ask March EVP Jodi Petrie why it's important for a brand to take the time to define its story. Then, we talk to March co-founders Martin Jones and Cheryl Gale about the recent process our agency went through to re-imagine our own brand, with lessons for companies like yours.
LINKS:
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit our blog: MarchComms.com/blog
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Blogging is a crowded world, and it's getting harder than ever to drive organic traffic from social and search to a website. So it's no surprise that newsletters and podcasts are gaining in popularity as publishers and businesses look for ways to reach consistent audiences.
In this episode of Hacks and Flacks, we talk to Tyler Morin, co-founder of The Water Coolest, a daily email newsletter and podcast that covers financial news. We ask Tyler about making the move from blogging to running a newsletter and podcast, and why it's important today to distribute content in a way that fits into your audience's life. Tyler also talks about the grind of the side hustle, and his journey building The Water Coolest around a full-time day job.
LINKS:
- Subscribe to The Water Coolest
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit our blog: MarchComms.com/blog
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Local TV news can be a great venue to tell a company's local story if you know how to reach the right person with the right pitch. In this episode of Hacks and Flacks, we speak to Marshall Hook, assignment editor at WHDH-TV Channel 7 in Boston, to learn the best ways PR professionals can pitch local broadcast media.
Marshall offers a primer on the dynamics and structure of a broadcast TV newsroom, explains how stories are typically evaluated for air, and deconstructs the TV broadcast so you can figure out where in the nightly news show your story might have a fit. He also explains the best time to pitch a local station, the criteria for what makes a good story for television, and his PR pet peeves.
LINKS:
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In an interview with March Managing Director Cheryl Gale, Laura Tomasetti, CEO and founder of 360PR+, covers her path to becoming one of PR's top leaders, from her beginnings in ad copywriting, to her stops at agencies in Washington, D.C., and Boston, to her in-house experience at Hasbro.
They also talk about why PR is growing in importance as CEOs because more conscious and concerned about their own reputation, and the reputations of their brands. And they discuss the value of relationship building in communication, the intersections between content, digital, social, advertising and PR, and the skills they look for when recruiting for comms talent.
LINKS:
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- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
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March 8 is International's Women Day, and in recognition, we recorded a fun and insightful roundtable chat between March Director of Digital Services Caroline Black, Managing Director Cheryl Gale and Executive Vice President Jodi Petrie. They talk about navigating their careers in PR, covering the challenge of juggling work and life responsibilities, the journey to find confidence in the workplace, and the importance for young women to make sure their voices are heard. They also touch on creativity, authenticity, meditation and, most importantly, cocktails.
LINKS:
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CES 2018 is history, and March Senior Account Executive Alex Jafarzadeh has a full report from Las Vegas. He tells us why this year's event was the "voice-controlled CES" and why, of all the major technology players in that space, Google was the biggest winner at the show.
We also talk about brands that made the wrong kind of impact and thus found themselves caught up in the sometimes-cynical coverage that surrounds CES every year. Alex offers advice for businesses that are thinking about showcasing at next year's event, explaining that the best comms strategy can ensure you leave the right impression on attending media and potential partners, while also helping you avoid sideways glances and social media mockery.
LINKS:
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Inbound 2017, the annual marketing conference here in Boston, has officially wrapped up. March sent several team members to the show, including Content Manager Andrew Grzywacz, who wrote a blog post (http://bit.ly/2xLoEN0) summarizing his top content takeaways from the show.
Now Andrew's on Hacks and Flacks to share more thoughts from the event, including the science behind how stories stick in the human mind, tips on sourcing content ideas from Reddit, and insight into the future of podcasting.
LINKS:
- Read Andrew's Inbound '17 recap: http://bit.ly/2xLoEN0
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
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- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Two years after helping to launch Hacks and Flacks with our first interview, media watcher Sam Whitmore of mediasurvey.com is back again to talk about the big topics in media and marketing.
Major media brands are making big bets on video content, but Sam explains why he thinks vertical publications in tech and other industries likely won't be able to follow suit with similar initiatives. We also discuss:
- the future of Facebook Live
- the art form of content distribution versus the over-focus on content production
- the new ways publications view and seek contributed content from brands
- the increase in tech reporters being asked to report on politics, government structures, and policy
and the effect on all of the above on tech PR professionals and content marketers.
LINKS:
- Subscribe to Sam Whitmore's Media Survey: mediasurvey.com
- Follow Sam on Twitter: @samwhitmore
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
TUGG Boston helps early stage, experimental nonprofits in the city earn funding and build their networks through multiple events and resources. Its annual Tugg Makes Boston fundraiser distributes more than $200,000 in funding to local organizations looking to solve challenges in their communities.
On this episode of Hacks and Flacks, we speak to TUGG Executive Director Elizabeth Dobrska, covering the resources TUGG offers to help its portfolio companies hone their message, and the biggest developmental challenge facing most nonprofits (hint: it's not fundraising).
We also talk about the potential for marketing innovation in the nonprofit sector, and the importance for founders to build genuine, long-term relationships with the media.
LINKS:
- Get involved in TUGG's Tech Gives Back on October 19, 2017 techgivesback.org
- Learn about Pledge 1% Boston pledge1boston.squarespace.com
- Learn more about TUGG Boston: tugg.org
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Recruitment and hiring are cornerstones of any growing business. Whether you're developing an agency from the ground up or looking to bring fresh talent into an established organization, it's important to find people with the right skills and attitude to push your business forward.
In building our agency, March co-founder Cheryl Gale and Vice President Liz Swenton Hosman have frequently tweaked their recruitment approach and philosophy in order to find and attract the right talent. In this episode of Hacks and Flacks, they share their perspectives on recruiting and hiring for a PR agency, along with tips for first-time agencies looking to build their team, and advice for aspiring PR and marketing pros hoping to get hired.
LINKS:
- Connect with Cheryl on LinkedIn to get her thoughts on developing a PR agency: linkedin.com/in/cagale/
- Connect with Liz on LinkedIn to learn about opportunities at March: linkedin.com/in/lizswenton/
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Michelle Cove has turned a career as a media maker into an opportunity to address that industry's most harmful effects. She's founder and executive director of MEDIAGIRLS, a nonprofit that gives young girls the tools to filter and think critically about the harmful sexist and biased messages communicated in today's media.
In this week's Hacks and Flacks, Marina Askari and Manny Veiga talk to Michelle about her journey from filmmaker to startup founder, chat about the communications strategies she's learned on to grow MEDIAGIRLS and build the program, and ask for her thoughts whether brands, the media and the general public are finally making progress in the effort to curb harmful messages.
LINKS:
- MEDIAGIRLS: mediagirls.org
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
We're living in the era of fake news, or at least, the fear of fake news. Stories that would have once been reserved for salacious supermarket tabloids are now being shared like wildfire across social media and discussed seriously on the nightly news.
It's bad for readers (who do you trust?) bad for media (how do you prove your credibility?) and bad for businesses, who don't want to get caught up in a phony but potentially damaging story. Even a fake story could be a massive PR risk.
In this week's Hacks and Flacks, March VP Meredith L. Eaton and Content Manager Andrew Grzywacz break down the fake news phenomenon. Meredith shares crisis communication tips for brands that need to react to a damaging fake story, and we discuss the budding cottage industry of fake news publishers.
LINKS:
- Meredith L. Eaton: The Rise of Fake News. Does PR Need to Worry?
- Wall Street Journal: You’re the Victim of Fake News, Now What?
- Wall Street Journal: Caution Required When Responding to Fake News
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
When you're trying to start a business, it can be tough to figure out your next step. Daquan Oliver, founder and executive director at WeThrive, learned this from a young age, and now he works to develop entrepreneurial skills in students from middle school on up.
In this episode of Hacks and Flacks, Daquan shares a few lessons in social entrepreneurship. Having successfully built a national collective of undergrad mentors for youth in under-resourced communities, Daquan describes how informal mentorships have given him the support system to build his company.
He also explains why he chose to avoid media outreach at a certain point in WeThrive's development, how press coverage gave him a boost at the right time, and how a few simple marketing and tech tools helped his business scale in a way that eludes many other nonprofit organizations.
LINKS:
- Learn more about WeThrive
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Companies like to talk a lot about their fancy gadgets and whiz-bang whirligigs (good word), but are customers actually listening? In most cases, probably not.
So, how should brands re-think marketing and PR to grab the interest and attention of the right buyers, and drive them to take an action? We ask Jodi Petrie, Executive Vice President at March and the head of our new Consumer Innovation shop, for her perspective. Jodi offers thoughts on the current state of tech communications, and suggests a better way forward for brands in this space.
LINKS:
- Learn more about March Consumer Innovation Shop
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
January was a busy month for the tech world, and for March Communications. We sent team members out to major tech events this month, and in this episode of Hacks and Flacks, three of them report back what they heard and saw while on the road.
Courtney Allen, James Gerber and Alex Jafarzadeh check in after trips to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the National Retail Federation (NRF) Retail's Big Show. They evaluate how the biggest innovators in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotics and more are succeeding or failing to connect with their target buyers.
Which of these trends are overhyped and which are underrated? We also pay our respects to the dearly departed 3D TV trend and ask: how can companies avoid seeing their product end up in the graveyard of gimmicky tech?
SHOW LINKS:
- CNET: "Shambling corpse of 3D TV finally falls down dead"
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes or Stitcher today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Rica Elysee is a builder. Based on her personal experiences with family and friends, she saw the need for a community for women that care about a natural hair lifestyle, which is why she created BostonNaturals. Now she's built a business in BeautyLynk, an on-demand marketplace for people to find beauty professionals for at-home appointments.
Through both experiences, she found that staying true to herself and her own personal journey helped her build grassroots communities, whether it was women who want to embrace their own definition of natural beauty, or customers who need someone to help them craft their style.
In this episode of Hacks and Flacks, Marina Askari and Manny Veiga talk to Rica about her journey. We talk about why authenticity is so important to how companies - startups and large enterprises - grow, gain customers, gain media coverage and more. We also ask about the local startup resources - like MassChallenge - that helped her build her business.
LINKS:
- Visit BeautyLynk: BeautyLynk
- Learn more about BostonNaturals: meetup.com/bostonnaturals
- Learn about the MassChallenge application cycle this February masschallenge.org
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
If some content is good, more is better, right? Marketers know that's not always the case, especially in today's content marketing environment, where the sheer volume of content available for buyers to read can be overwhelming. When there's too much content out there, you have to change your own content creation strategy to get noticed.
In the final Hacks and Flacks of 2016, we talk with Joe Flynn, Managing Editor at Sales Engine Media, about that exact challenge. A veteran B2B content marketer, Joe tells us how his own content strategy has changed to reflect the current state of SEO, social media and content consumption habits.
LINKS:
- Visit Sales Engine Media: salesenginemedia.com
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Most tech businesses abide by that old rule of thumb: never discuss politics and religion in polite company. However, this year we've seen many prominent individuals and companies thrust into the political spotlight, whether they wanted to be there or not. How have they responded? And as tech becomes more intertwined with our everyday life, should we expect to see more companies comment on social and political issues that are typically outside their depth?
In this episode of Hacks and Flacks (which, it's important to note, was recorded before the 2016 presidential election) Manny Veiga and Andrew Grzywacz discuss the communications responses of some of the biggest names in technology - Facebook, Airbnb, and even figures like Peter Thiel or Sheryl Sandberg - when faced with political issues. We also muse on the issues (data security, personal privacy) that could force B2B enterprises to wade into these murky waters.
LINKS:
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Bloomberg is a brand of contrasts. It's simultaneously one of the biggest names in news, while also flying under the radar for those of us who don't keep up on the latest in business or investment. The Bloomberg Boston office is inconspicuously tucked away on two upper floors of a Downtown Crossing high-rise, but within that space, reporters are creating stories that are read and heard by a huge international audience.
In this episode of Hacks and Flacks we talk to Anne Mostue, radio anchor and reporter at Bloomberg Boston, to help PR professionals get a better sense for this dichotomy. After transitioning from the world of public radio, Anne now spends each afternoon on Bloomberg's airwaves, covering the latest in finance for an audience of movers and shakers. She describes the types of news that's important to her audience, the differences between Bloomberg and her past stops in journalism, plus the best ways for PR professionals to pitch her.
LINKS:
- Follow Anne Mostue on Twitter: @AnneMostue
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
What's one buzzword that's just about run out of steam in the world of healthcare? "Solutions."
Boston Business Journal reporter Jessica Bartlett hears it often enough, and that's because she's regularly pitched by PR professionals working on behalf of the region's many healthcare businesses. Off the back of a recent Pub Club of New England speed pitching session, Jessica joins Hacks and Flacks this week for a discussion about media outreach and reporting.
She offers a glimpse into the dynamics and expectations of Boston Business Journal's readership, and insight into the story ideas - and headline opportunities - that catch her eye as a healthcare reporter covering one of the nation's top markets for that industry.
LINKS:
- Follow Jessica Bartlett on Twitter: @BOSBIZJess
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
When you're hyper-focused on results, it's easy to view PR and marketing as a purely numbers-driven game. However, the creative arts - writing, photography, video and more - play a central role in contributing to those numbers by helping companies tell their stories and reach their desired audience.
On this week's Hacks and Flacks, we talk to two people who understand the art and science of visual mediums. When she's not working as a biomedical engineer for Boston's MC10, photographer Ellora Sen-Gupta can most likely be found snapping photos and contributing to creative projects as part of Boston's budding Instagram photography community, including @PortraitMeet.
March Director of Video Services Brendan Reilly is also a member of that group, and in this episode, he and Ellora talk about their techniques for applying creativity to corporate visual content, tips on how to get the best out of subjects who aren't comfortable in front of the camera, and why companies can't afford to cut corners on skill or technical competency when it comes to working with photographers or videographers.
LINKS:
- Follow Ellora Sen-Gupta on Instagram: @hellorainyday
- Follow Brendan Reilly on Instagram: @reelreilly
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Gawker.com is gone. Some people are upset, some people are dancing on its grave. Is there a right or a wrong perspective on Gawker's demise? Was its fate deserved because of its controversial and confrontational editorial style, or was Peter Thiel's cash-fueled vendetta an ugly harbinger of what could happen to the state of media if the powerful choose to litigate the free press into non-existence?
The hot Gawker takes have been flying left and right, and on this week's Hacks and Flacks, Andrew Grzywacz and I try to dig through it all. We acknowledge the contrasting reactions of the media and the general public toward Gawker's end, and discuss the possible implications for other publications.
SHOW NOTES:
- Nick Denton on Gawker: "How Things Work"
- Max Read on Gawker: "Did I Kill Gawker?"
- Peter Thiel editorial: "The Online Privacy Debate Won't End With Gawker"
- Other billionaires suing the press: Poynter
LINKS:
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
The relationships between PR pros and journalists can be... complicated, to say the least. But, it's not all form pitches and frustration - in the best case scenario, PR folks and reporters can establish mutually beneficial relationships that result in great stories and reliable sources.
On this week's Hacks and Flacks, Manny Veiga and Paul Davenport talk to HealthITSecurity's Elizabeth Snell about her preferred rules of engagement when it comes to PR pitching and outreach. We also talk about the unique experience of finding compelling angles and navigating PR relationships when writing and editing for a vertical publication like HealthITSecurity.
LINKS:
- Visit HealthITSecurity.com
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
When big news breaks, it's tempting to check if there's a chance to add your company's voice to the issue (how's your Pokemon Go pitch coming along, by the way?).
As March Senior Account Executive Alex Jafarzadeh recently wrote, the recent Brexit story provided interesting examples of what works and what can go wrong when you try to offer your spokesperson to reporters as an expert on a major timely news story.
"Newsjacking," as this PR strategy is called, can pay off when you have a legitimate angle or comment to offer a journalist. However, a poorly conceived pitch might come off as trivial, clueless and even tasteless depending on the story and timing.
On this week's Hacks and Flacks, we ask Alex and March Account Director Courtney Allen: when does this type of pitching cross the line, and how can PR pros ensure that their pitch actually benefits both the reporter and their client?
LINKS:
- Read Alex's blog post on Brexit PR lessons
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Whether you're hiring for a PR agency or an in-house marketing team, it's helpful to know as much as possible about the capabilities, expectations and possibilities of your potential future employees. That's why Hacks and Flacks brought in Amy Shanler, Associate Professor of Public Relations at Boston University and the head of BU's PRLab, for a glimpse into how tomorrow's professionals are being trained for a PR career.
The student-staffed PRLab is the nation's oldest student-run PR agency and supports real-world clients, with access to BU's state-of-the-art resources (including a Communication Research Center with a faux living room outfitted with bio-metric sensors).
PRLab has worked on a number of compelling, creative and inspiring campaigns - including a partnership with March Communications to support the nonprofit Adaptive Sports New England. March Vice President Liz Swenton Hosman oversaw that project, and she also joins the conversation with Amy to talk about PR training and hiring today, career expectations and anxieties for students coming out of college looking for their first PR job, and what employers need to know about the next generation of communications talent.
LINKS:
- Learn more about the BU PRLab: bu.edu/prlab
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Data can tell a great story, and research campaigns are how you find that data. In this week's episode we talk to March Research Manager Jeremy Guterl, Account Manager Steph Jackman and Senior Account Executive Samantha Bell about their recent work developing, distributing and promoting a successful PR research campaign.
Jeremy defines the difference between media-genic and strategic research, and walks us through every step of the research process. Steph provides a blueprint for conducting media outreach for a campaign, and Sam explains why clear, impactful data points help you capture the interest of readers and the media.
LINKS:
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Want to host an event? You better be organized. Organizing an industry event or trade show takes careful planning, collaboration, support from sponsors, great content and much more, as we learned in this week's interview with Erin Callanan, co-chair of PRXNE16, the annual conference for PRSA's North East district.
Erin is one of the chief organizers for PRXNE16 - held this year in our hometown of Boston - and we talked to her to get her expert tips on event organization. She also previews the PRXNE16 lineup, which features a keynote discussion on the media coverage surrounding this year's presidential election, plus a session on client messaging from March Managing Director Cheryl Gale.
SHOW NOTES:
- 5:53 - The importance of sponsors
- 11:10 - Why put on your own event?
- 12:07 - Content is everything
- 12:30 Preparing for the unexpected
- 15:20 - Social media sessions at PRXNE16
- 16:20 PRXNE16 keynote topics
- 18:44 - Transitioning from communications to education panel
- 19:45 - PRXNE16 spotlight sessions
- 20:50 How do you build a content agenda for an event?
LINKS:
- Register for PRXNE16:PRSANorthEast.Org
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
When they think about a business social media strategy, most marketers probably think platform-first: where's my audience most active, and how can I spend the most time on that channel engaging with them? But is that actually the right strategy? Is it better to be hyper-focused on one platform, try to build quality engagement on every channel, or do something in between?
On this week's Hacks and Flacks we cover those questions and many more with March Senior Account Executive Alex Jafarzadeh (@ajafarzadehPR) and Digital Strategist Kristin McNulty (@beautyandbean). We're talking the intersection of social media, digital strategy and PR, and offering our take on the recent doom and gloom headlines prophesying Twitter's demise.
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
What's new in the world of digital media? Some publications are launching on new platforms to get their content in front of readers, while others are experimenting with social and mobile channels to improve reader engagement. And no one can figure out what's going on with Twitter.
We cover it all on this week's Hacks and Flacks, in our first monthly roundtable featuring March's own Andrew Grzywacz and Paul Davenport, plus Hacks and Flacks alum Jim Young. We muse about the BBC's use of Yik Yak to engage readers, the launch of Quartz's new messaging-based mobile app and the increased decoupling of the news from native sites as publications turn to platforms like Facebook Instant Articles, Medium, Snapchat Discover and Google AMP.
We also cover Twitter's algorithm update, Bill Simmons' new media venture, and share our thoughts on how marketers and businesses can similarly experiment with digital media channels to reach their audience.
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
SHOW NOTES:
- Platforms are eating the internet (Matt Carroll via Medium)
- Is Messaging the Future of News? Quartz Thinks It Might Be (Fortune)
- How will Twitter's new 'relevancy over recency' algorithm affect brands? (The Drum)
- Vox Hires Choire Sicha to Oversee Partnerships With Facebook, Snapchat (Wall Street Journal)
- Bill Simmons’ new digital venture, The Ringer, will launch in mid-March as an email newsletter (Nieman Lab)
- How BBC is using Yik Yak to talk to millennials (and get them to talk back) (DigiDay)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Numbers can be a little scary. Marketing and PR are results-driven industries, and demonstrating why the work you do every day meet key businesses objectives can seem daunting if you don't have the right tools, processes or perspective. Even worse, you might be reluctant to measure your results in the first place, out of fear of what cold, hard facts might reveal about your every day work.
On this week's Hacks and Flacks we talk to Katie Delahaye Paine, also known as The Measurement Queen, who has spent years helping businesses and PR pros fearlessly and confidently put hard numbers behind their communications campaigns. Katie explains how to create a culture of measurement within a PR agency or internal marketing department, and also shares her perspective on the tech businesses use to monitor and measure their work.
We also chat with March Digital Strategist Kristin McNulty and Content Manager Paul Davenport to get their tips on how to leverage measurement to tell a story and put context behind your campaigns.
- Follow Katie Delahaye Paine on Twitter: @queenofmetrics
- Visit Paine Publishing to learn more about Katie and her work
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
It's one of the biggest trade shows in the world, and it can be a complete nightmare for the woebegone PR pro who hasn't adequately prepared. But, the Consumer Electronics Show - better known as CES - is also a great opportunity to connect your client or business with a huge number of journalists and influencers in one fell swoop. So, how do you avoid the chaos and make the most of your time at CES?
This week we talk to March Vice President Erica Frank, Account Director Courtney Allen and Account Manager James Gerber, three hardened CES veterans, who share their impressions of this year's event and other tips and tricks for PR professionals heading to this or any other big show.
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
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- Join our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @MarchComms
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Is there anything more frustrating about the Internet than advertisements? Pop-ups, banners, videos – they interrupt the browsing experience and may even grind your page load times to a halt (and drain your monthly mobile data plan, by the way). At the same time, online advertisements are a valuable source of revenue for publishers, who have seen revenue from print advertisements largely dry up.
Enter ad blocking software. These controversial tools are common among Internet users, and they're sure to become even more popular after Apple permitted the use of ad blocking software on its devices, as part of its most recent iOS update.
This leads to a number of questions. What are the ramifications for publishers if blocked ads suppress revenue opportunities? Are paywalls and contributed content viable alternatives? What about other collateral damage of ad blocking (goodbye Google Analytics tracking)?
We explore all the ins and outs of ad blocking on this week's episode.
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
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- Join the discussion in our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes: * The Cost of Mobile Ads on 50 News Websites (New York Times) * Life After Content Blocking (Monday Note) * Content Blocking in iOS 9 Is Going to Screw Up Way More Than Just Ads (The Next Web) * Just Doesn't Feel Good (Marco.org)
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HubSpot's INBOUND isn't quite like other business events and conferences. Yes, it attracts thousands of attendees (15,000+ this year), is hosted by a world-class city, features show-stealing keynote addresses (Aziz Ansari, Seth Godin, Brené Brown and Chelsea Clinton) and provides educational sessions – not unlike, say, Dreamforce.
What's different about INBOUND, and what's been proven over six annual events, is that HubSpot's ambition is to create a movement.
To get an inside look at INBOUND 2015, we sent two correspondents (and former guests of Hacks and Flacks), drew Wallace (Episode 2 and Episode 12) and Matt Moretti (Episode 7). In this episode, drew and Matt report back, explaining how INBOUND manages to serve up "brain fuel for marketers" that goes well beyond tactical marketing strategies and right to the heart of human emotion.
- Follow drew on Twitter: @anotherdrew
- Follow Matt on Twitter: @Matt_Moretti
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join the discussion in our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes: * HubSpot Just Announced These 4 New Products at Inbound (BostInno) * Marc Maron on the Future of Podcasting: An Exclusive Chat at #INBOUND15 (HubSpot Blog)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how valuable is video? Visual storytelling can be a powerful medium, as it often allows you to convey messages, invoke emotions and inspire action far more effectively than the written word alone.
Brendan Reilly is a believer in the power of visual storytelling for B2B marketers. He should be, considering he is, after all, the Director of Video Services here at March Communications. In this week's episode, he sat down with us to share some of his favorite examples of corporate video marketing, covering the good (Chipotle, GoPro) and the questionable (lookin' at you, Wrangler).
Brendan also breaks down the types of videos you can use to bring new life to your marketing, answers technical questions around equipment investment and proper aspect ratios, and offers tips on how to avoid creating boring corporate videos.
- Follow Brendan on Instagram: @reelreilly
- Follow Brendan on Twitter: @breilly82
- Learn more about video marketing from March
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join the discussion in our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes: * Wrangler busts out its Wrongler campaign (AdWeek) * Chipotle's award-winning Scarecrow campaign (AdAge) * The New York Times wrestles with video dimensions (Nieman Lab)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
The last time you went shopping, did you actually drive to a store, or did you just stroll over to your couch and log into your computer or phone? If you bought online because the cost was lower, did you wish you had an opportunity to pick up and preview whatever it was you purchased?
Even though websites and mobile apps have taken some traffic away from brick-and-mortar retailers, customers still crave an engaging in-store experience, and that desire has helped some of these stores undergo a renaissance of sorts.
This week, we were joined by Marcus LaRobardiere, Assistant Marketing Manager at Bouncepad. Marcus explains how he tells Bouncepad's story, in part by sharing how some of its marquee customers – from McDonalds to Tommy Hilfiger – use its tablet enclosures to create captivating in-store experiences for customers.
- Follow Marcus on Twitter: @marcusdl
- Follow Bouncepad on Twitter: @bouncepad
- Learn more about Bouncepad: Bouncepad.com
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join the discussion in our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes: * The State of Retail 2015 (Time Trade) * Tommy Hilfiger Shoppers Embrace the Selfie (Bouncepad)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
It's been a busy summer in the world of media and journalism.
The "New York Times" made some news of its own, after topping 1 million digital-only subscribers and rolling out its "live journalism" program. Bill Simmons left behind writing for ESPN in favor of a multi-platform gig with HBO. Digital media companies continued to trend toward unionization, and Gawker in particular experienced some of the greatest growing pains, following an editorial controversy that split its newsroom.
On this episode, we finally do come summer catch-up, working our way through these stories and more.
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join the discussion in our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes: * Here's What the New York Times' 1 Million Subscriber Number Means (Fortune) * As Print Fades, Part I: "Live Journalism" at the Times (New York Times) * What Happened When a College Newspaper Abandoned Its Website for Medium and Twitter (Nieman Lab) * Bill Simmons to Join HBO, Going From Free Agency to Freedom (New York Times) * A Statement from the Gawker Media Editorial Staff (Gawker) * Writers at Vice Media Vote to Unionize (Wall Street Journal)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
It's like a success story you'd read in a business book. Less than four years after launching your startup, you've built a dedicated community of supporters, expanded well beyond your core product offering, and received coverage from the likes of Buzzfeed, TechCrunch and Mashable. And you've done it with only a handful of employees.
Jack Neary, Head of Community at Litographs, is living this story. In this role, he's has helped bring exposure to the popular Boston-based company, known for its stunning collection of posters, t-shirts and tote bags, with designs comprising the full text of novels.
Jack stopped by to explain how he's blended media relations and social media marketing to bring exposure to Litographs, how the Boston startup community has lent a hand, and how his own interest in literature has helped him to authentically market and sell to "the Bookternet."
- Follow Jack on Twitter: @J_Neary
- Read the Litographs Blog: Litographs.Tumblr.com
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join the discussion in our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes: * Litographs Launches Temporary Literary Tattoos on Kickstarter (Boston Magazine) * This Company Wants to Tattoo the Full Text of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" on 2,500 People (Buzzfeed) * 12 Companies for Winter 2014 Session in Boston (TechStars Boston) * Why I Heart The Bookternet (Tedx Talk with Rachel Fershleiser)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
When thinking about how social media analytics and reporting has evolved, it's helpful to borrow an example from the world of sports. In baseball, traditional statistics like batting average and runs batted in are equivalent to retweets, likes and favorites on social media − they provide some insights, but they don't tell the whole story.
In his work with Crimson Hexagon, customer success manager (and baseball fanatic) Justin Gagnon uses social listening tools to dig deeper than surface-level analytics and help companies understand trends on social media. On this episode, Justin pulls back the curtain on the social data Crimson Hexagon provides, by showing us how podcasts are perceived on social media, and specifically how social media reacted to President Obama's recent appearance on Marc Maron's show.
Justin also explains how social listening is a new, modern form of market research, and why the successes of prominent brands like Always and Uber show that hashtags may still matter.
- Follow Justin on Twitter: @_JustinGagnon_
- Read the Crimson Hexagon Blog: CrimsonHexagon.com/blog
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram: @hacksflacks
- Join the discussion in our Facebook Group: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes: * Ice Cream, Kittens and Now Christmas Trees: Uber Aims to Be More Than a Car Service (Time) * Why That 'Like A Girl' Super Bowl Ad Was So Groundbreaking (Huffington Post) * Episode 613 - President Barack Obama (WTF w/ Marc Maron)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
So, we have a podcast. We want to promote it. A social media strategy was in order, and we figured why not give you, our listeners, an inside look at its development.
Step 1 was to meet with drew Wallace, Hacks and Flacks alumnus (Episode 2) and digital marketing guru. On this episode, you'll hear our first conversation with drew, as we work with him to identify our audience, brainstorm content for our target social platforms, and assign metrics. We also experimented with live broadcasting through Periscope and Google Hangouts on Air, and even posed for our first Hacks and Flacks Instagram pictures.
Be sure to check out our new Hacks and Flacks accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We'll have drew on again in three months to update our progress.
- Follow drew on Twitter: @anotherdrew
- Follow drew on Medium: Medium.com/@anotherdrew
- Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes:
- How This Marketer is Preparing to Create a Social Strategy Live (Medium.com/@anotherdrew)
- We Live Podcasted a Social Media Strategy. Here How it Went (Medium.com/@zmveiga)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Whether as Employee No. 11 at HubSpot or in her current role as VP of Marketing for Toast, Ellie Mirman has always taken a data-driven approach to marketing. By measuring everything they do, marketers can better communicate results – what Ellie calls the "universal language" across the entire business.
Ellie joins us this week to chat about the differences in marketing for HubSpot and Toast, how she uses agile marketing and "sprints" to align with the goals of the sales department, and what she looks for in resumés when hiring for marketing positions (hint: it involves data).
- Follow Ellie on Twitter: @ellieeille
- Visit Ellie's personal blog: EllieMirman.com
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes:
- Marketing Smarts: Frank Days on Agile Marketing (MarketingProfs)
- The #1 Quality of a Good Marketing Resume (EllieMirman.com)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Attracting attention on the Internet today is an artform. Sometimes, a compelling story alone isn't enough to break through the noise. You may need a "clickbait" headline, a timely topic, and the right means of distribution.
For Blaise Lucey, Content Marketing Manager at Movable Ink, email has become his distribution channel of choice. Just back from Las Vegas for Content Marketing Conference 2015, Blaise joins us this week to explain how email marketing, when coupled with excellent stories and other means of distribution like social media, can help marketers reach and grow their audiences.
He also chats through the value of "content unicorns," why good marketers can spend up to 80 percent of their time on research, and why marketers are increasingly acting like journalists.
We also bring in March Account Executive Jenna Burpee, who just returned from Nashville, where she provided photography support for client SiriusDecisions (and keynote speaker Magic Johnson) during Summit 2015.
- Follow Blaise on Twitter: @BlaiseLucey00
- Follow Jenna on Twitter: @jennaburpee
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes:
- SiriusDecisions Shows off Its 'Magic' Touch at Summit 2015 (March Communications)
- Google Confirms 'Buy' Button is Coming (Re/code)
- U.S. Consumer Device Preference Report Q1 2015 (MovableInk)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Pew Research Center's "State of the News Media 2015" is a must-read for anyone who follows the U.S. media. This year, the report provided a broad look at the media landscape, while also identifying winners and losers, based on audience size and revenue. Not surprisingly, the report painted a rough picture for newspapers and cable news, while it projected a brighter future for mobile and digital news, local and network news, and podcasts.
On today's episode, Manny and Jim break through as much of the 96-page report as they can. Along the way, they touch on how some of the most prominent stories of the day are reported (including Deflategate), the value of streaming radio, whether Feedly or Pulse is a preferred news aggregating app, and much more.
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga @JW_Young
- Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes:
- State of the News Media 2015 (Pew Research Center)
- Facebook Is Eating the Internet (The Atlantic)
- 'Invisibilia' and the Evolving Art of Radio (The New Yorker)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Earlier this month, Rolling Stone published a 13,000-word, independent review conducted by the Columbia Journalism School around its November 2014 story, "A Rape on Campus," which the report deemed to be riddled with basic reporting errors. Rolling Stone has since retracted the story and the reporter has issued a formal apology.
To walk us through the full timeline - from how the article came together and how it finally fell apart - we spoke with Allie Bidwell, Education Reporter for U.S. News & World Report, who has been covering the story for months.
Before talking to Allie, we chatted about two ongoing stories - the 2015 Pulitzer Prize announcements and BuzzFeed's continued deletion, and subsequent restoration, of editorial posts that may have violated BuzzFeed's commercial interests.
- Follow Allie on Twitter: @alliebidwell
- Visit Allie's author page: USNews.com/Topics/Author/Allie-Bidwell
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Visit the PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes:
- BuzzFeed Says Posts Were Deleted Because of Advertising Pressure (The New York Times)
- New ASME Guidelines Address Native Ads (MediaPost)
- Daily Breeze Celebrates Its Surprise Pulitzer (The New York Times)
- The Pulitzer Prize Scam (Politico)
- "A Rape on Campus": What Went Wrong? (Rolling Stone)
- Why a UVA Frat's Potential Lawsuit Could Succeed (U.S. News & World Report)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
"It has always been about the story. The story is everything, which means it's our jobs to tell better stories."
Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, who delivered those comments as the keynote speaker at last year's Content Marketing World 2014, knows a lot about the alchemy of a compelling story. Sitting out in the crowd that day was Matt Moretti, Senior Content & Media Analyst at Flipkey.
Matt joins us this week for a lively conversation about storytelling. We cover it from all angles, from how brands like GoPro and Red Bull do it the right way, to how television programs like Game of Thrones bring stories alive from the page to the screen, without losing what made them captivating in the first place.
We also experiment with live-streaming app Periscope - with better results than we had last time with Meerkat - and debate the merits of live streaming as a marketing tool.
- Follow Matt on Twitter: @Matt_Moretti
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Visit the PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes:
- The Race Between Meerkat and Periscope is Closer Than It Seems (BusinessInsider)
- Kevin Spacey Challenges Content Marketing World 2014 Attendees to Tell Better Stories (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- GoPro Falls from Plane, Lands In Pigpen, Gets Snuffled (CNET)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Is the Gigaom shutdown a harbinger of what's to come for some tech journalism? Manny and Jim brought in March Communications CEO Martin Jones to discuss what led to Gigaom's downfall, how consumer expectations for media have changed and why the influence of journalism "gatekeepers" has tailed off.
Leading into our conversation with Martin, we tried the Meerkat app for the first time, with mixed results. We also chatted about Facebook's "Faustian" plot to become the go-to platform for all media outlets.
- Follow Martin on Twitter: @mrjbos
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Visit the PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
Show Notes:
- Meerkat: The Future of Reporting - or Just a Plaything for Narcissists (The Guardian)
- When Live Video App Meerkat is An Unwelcome Guest (Fortune)
- Demise of Gigaom Doesn't Faze Its Rivals (New York Times)
- Jonah Peretti Explains Why Buzzfeed Is Happy to Cut a (Theoretical) Deal With Facebook (Re/code)
- It's the Relationship, Stupid (BuzzMachine)
- Should News Sites Make a 'Faustian Bargain' with Facebook? (Yahoo Tech)
Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbay today. The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
To our friends in PR and marketing agencies: When something goes haywire, don't you wish you could escape and hide behind the plant? Lauren Peresada, Senior Customer Success Manager at Hubspot, knows the feeling.
This week, Lauren shares stories from her time as an account manager, what she sees as the differences between small business and enterprise clients, her blueprint for managing client crises, and why asking the obvious questions has saved her on many occasions.
And, in light of the news that Gigaom will be shutting down, we brought in March's Doug Flora to provide some additional prospective and provide his view of the current state of the tech journalism landscape.
- Follow Lauren on Twitter: @LaurenPeresada
- Follow Doug on Twitter: @DSFlora
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
- Visit the PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
What marketer wouldn't feel accomplished getting their company's name published by U.S. News and World Report, the Huffington Post, Lifehacker and Business Insider? In becoming a brand advocate, Ben Weiss did just that, and built up his personal brand along the way as well.
This week, Ben joins Jim and Manny to chat about brand advocacy, the value of relationships in public relations and marketing, and why he's thankful to have made mistakes before he had an audience.
Caroline Legg, Senior Account Executive at March, also swings by to share stories from her time as an intrepid freelance reporter. She explains that not all stories pitch themselves - unless they're about using goats as lawnmowers - and shares tips on getting noticed.
- Visit Ben's author page: USNews.com/Topics/Author/Ben_Weiss
- Follow Caroline on Twitter: @CarolineDLegg
- Visit the PR Nonsense blog: MarchPR.com/blog
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
What makes for great video marketing? Jim and Manny ask Marc Amigone, director of marketing for the professional video sharing platform MediaSilo, for his take on effective video marketing, and riff on the best and worst ads from this year's Super Bowl. They also chat the struggles and benefits of transitioning from agency work to in-house marketing.
Brendan Reilly, video director at March, also drops in to share his tips for making great brand videos.
- Learn more about MediaSilo: MediaSilo.com
- Follow Marc on Twitter: @MarcAmigone
- Follow Brendan on Twitter: @breilly82
- Visit the PR Nonsense blog: marchpr.com/blog
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
Being the new kid in high school can be a little scary and awkward. Brands today find themselves in a similar position when they tiptoe onto unfamiliar social media networks to market to a younger, savvier audience. In this week's episode drew Wallace, Director of Marketing at Roundtown, shares tips on how brands can find their ideal network and audience on social media.
- Learn more about Roundtown: roundtown.com
- Follow drew on Twitter: @anotherdrew
- Visit the PR Nonsense blog: marchpr.com/blog
- Follow March Communications on Twitter: @marchpr
- Follow Manny and Jim on Twitter: @zmveiga and @JW_Young
The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!
In the very first episode of Hacks and Flacks, hosts Jim Young and Manny Veiga talk to tech media analyst Sam Whitmore about the friction that may or may not exist between tech companies and the reporters who cover them. They also discuss brand journalism's true potential, debate whether startups really need PR, and offer an out-of-the-box marketing plan for... massage parlors.
Also, March Communication's James Gerber shares takeaways from this year's CES in Las Vegas, and weighs in on the startup PR debate.
Show Notes:
- Learn more about Sam Whitmore's Media Survey: mediasurvey.com
- Follow Sam on Twitter: @samwhitmore
- Follow James on Twitter: @jamesgerber
- Visit the PR Nonsense blog: marchpr.com/blog
The show's music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at jobcreatorsband.com!