Category Archives: Media Relations

Pictures are Pretty & Other New Paths for PR

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Mark O'Toole

Pretty pictures

Massachusetts is putting real muscle behind supporting its creative economy. We even have a Creative Economy Industry Director, a statewide position and industry resource to amplify the industry’s voice. Our creative economy stretches from firms like HB to colleges, technology companies and associations. As FutureM, the annual fall event focused on the future of marketing, often showcases (and rightfully boasts), the greater Boston area especially is a hub of marketing innovation.

This week, Boston.com has been running a series called “We are the Creative Industries” series, providing a glimpse into the perspectives, people and organizations driving creativity. Why? It’s simple. The creative industry is a vital part of Massachusetts’ economy, with $1 billion statewide impact and more than 100,000 employees in the field.

I had an opportunity to contribute to this series. My piece, “PR: A Clean Slate,” showcases the public relations industry’s ability to learn from past oversights and finally deliver a communications experience that incorporates the many tools at our disposal today: media relations, SEO, content marketing and more. As an agency, HB is living on the cutting edge of what’s possible for its B2B PR clients. And the message to agencies in general is grow or fade away.

Please read the article here, and share, comment or disagree.

Posted in B2B Technology, Content Marketing, Design, Hart-Boillot, Media Relations, Public Relations | 3 Comments

The Flacktrack

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Molly Delaney

By Dawn Sullivan, PR Strategist

Thanks to services like Songza and iHeartRadio’s “Perfect For”, customizing music to fit your mood or “activity” is a snap. But, for the modern PR agency professional, tunes designed for “working” hardly cut it. Our job is a constant state of flux – ups and downs, frustration and adulation, fire tamping and blue-sky thinking. It’s no surprise “PR professional” is one of the top five most stressful jobs on the planet. To help us get through it, we need a soundtrack that bobs and weaves right along with us.

As part of HB Agency’s Blog the 13th 2013 blog series, here are tunes for 13 common PR situations. The rest of the soundtrack is up to you…and I hope you’ll share it with me!

Go to HB Agency’s GrooveShark page and Hit PLAY for:

1.       Brainstorming an explosive idea – TNT by AC/DC

BONUS TRACK: Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, Mozart

2.       Writing a press release – Chariots of Fire, Vangelis

3.       Calling a reporter – Eye of the Tiger, Survivor

4.       Recovering from getting turned down by a reporter – Fighter, Christina Aguilera

BONUS TRACK: Mean, Taylor Swift

5.       Celebrating a piece of amazing, on-message, earned media coverage – Walking on Sunshine, Katrina and the Waves

6.       Needing some light at the end of the tunnel – Somewhere over the Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole

BONUS TRACK: Red Solo Cup, Toby Keith

7.      Finding Inspiration – It’s a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong

8.      Winning a piece of business – You Can’t Touch This, MC Hammer

9.      Losing a piece of business – I’m Gonna Find Another You, John Mayer

10.    Thanking colleagues for always having you covered – Umbrella, Rihanna

11.   Receiving client praise – Can’t get enough of your love babe, Barry White

BONUS TRACK: Give Me All Your Lovin’, ZZ Top

12.   Tending to a fire – Rolling in the Deep, Adele

BONUS TRACK: Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire, Jimi Hendrix

13.   Having a happy client – Just Like Heaven, The Cure

What’s your Flacktrack? Tell me @dawnsullivan or dsullivan@hbagency.com.

Posted in Blog the 13th, Media Relations, Public Relations, Writing | Leave a comment

Print Lives and Other Content Marketing Trends

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Mark O'Toole

Companies are realizing the power of creating and sharing “unedited” messages through channels that more directly reach their consumers, the need to infuse a strategy to support these branded content opportunities. We’re in a content marketing renaissance; HB suggests paying attention to the following trends:

  • Integrated marketing is back with a vengeance (and PR is part of it): Companies are choosing to work with firms that embrace and incorporate video, design, content marketing, search (SEO and SEM) and other creative tactics, coupling those efforts with public relations programs.
  • Video spreads like… a virus? Video is compelling, and websites and social networks now show and share video seamlessly. Companies are creating video at record levels, but not all video is good or accomplishes its intended goals. Successful videos tell good stories and move audiences to specific thoughts or behaviors.
  • Curation is not just for museums: Content curation is old school for the social media vanguard, but it is a new focal point for companies looking to develop independent “content centers” on their websites. These news and information centers can drive search, serve as educational portals and fill in the gaps between earned media (media coverage) and paid media (advertising).
  • Corporate journalists are in demand: Even the best executive blog posts can’t match the stories that trained journalists create. Larger companies have already started hiring journalists to frame their marketplace, share their information and define their industries through regular, in-depth reporting. This trend will continue as companies see the value in the independent and/or marketing content that staff journalists deliver.
  • TV is, well, TV: Broadcast outlets, television and radio, still aren’t capturing meaningful audience share to their websites. Master content creators for TV and radio continue to share redundant information through their websites, social media and branded content, ignoring the web’s major differences and opportunities.
  • Content marketing is seeing resurgence in college curricula: There is more hand-on classroom learning and internship opportunity for the next generation of content marketers. We hear about through our great interns and see it reflected in the online presence and savvy of new grads.
  • Content marketing budgets are increasing: According to a survey by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute, 60 percent of companies are increasing content marketing budgets this year.
  • White papers are evolving: Moving beyond static, lengthy and dry pages, white papers feature more digestible content, parsed out in smaller nuggets, supplemented and shared using social media. Video is emerging as a slicker, content-rich way to disseminate white paper findings and knowledge.
  • Print lives: Despite the troubles within the U.S. Postal Service and the dominance of digital, print marketing has reemerged as a tactile, creative and multidimensional way of sharing stories.
  • Truth-o-Meters are getting better: Socially networked audiences waste no time in sharing both good and bad content. Fact-checking, sentiment-creation, good and bad experiences race across mobile channels at unprecedented speeds. This keeps content creators up at night, and rightly so. With audiences so networked and willing to communicate, successful organizations must maintain uncompromising standards of truth and integrity in their communication, all the while keeping their audience interaction rapid and genuine – sometimes a difficult balance.

Interested in reading more about these trends? Please visit the Global Business Hub blog on Boston.com for Mark O’Toole’s extended post.

Posted in Content Marketing, Hart-Boillot, Media Relations, Social Media, Video, Web/Tech | Leave a comment

Control vs. continuation: a shift in marketing strategy

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Justin Hastings

Last week, I overheard a conversation between our PR team and a representative from a prominent wire service.

“When I started, we concentrated solely on media. We differentiated ourselves from our competitors through speed – as soon as you faxed something to us, we had two people proof it as soon as possible.”

That was only 10 or so years ago.

Then, media strategy stressed control. An agency suggested key messages – and that would be the only thing you heard from a business.

Lack of control

And then the internet happened. Through the birth – and rapid explosion – of social networks, companies soon learned a then-awful truth: they no longer controlled their messages and stories.

The customers had a new playground to express their opinions. Gasp!

Embrace uncontrollability

As companies learned to harness their networks over the last few years, the power of the customer grew exponentially. Companies now interacted directly with customers… and often, the customers drove business decisions. What a novel concept!

The shift to continuation

More recently, companies’ social strategies matured into something Gary Varynerchuk called “continuing the story.” Instead of fearing the uncontrollable, businesses began crafting their own story… and extending it online with a microsite, hashtag, or Facebook URL.

Customers are now characters, taking the beginning of an idea and crafting it into a story of their own, providing ample opportunities for brands to re-engage.

Now that’s continuing the story.

Posted in Advertising, Business, Content Marketing, Media Relations, Public Relations, Social Media | 1 Comment

Getting inside the problem

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Kevin Hart
Knee MRI

Sometimes you need to go deeper.

This week I had knee surgery. Originally I was diagnosed as needing ACL reconstruction. However, an MRI revealed that the ACL was intact. My surgeon wasn’t sure how things would turn out. He advised that he should wait to make a judgment call once he was inside the knee and could really see what was happening. I agreed.

It’s ironic how closely this matches the work we do on a regular basis. Prospective clients come to us with a problem or a challenge and ask for our help. Too often they ask us to diagnose the problem and prescribe a fix in the form of a proposal… before we truly understand the real problem.

Our point of view is that we must get inside the problem and deeply understand the challenge prior to prescribing a solution. We propose a strategy/planning session, one where we can peel away the layers of business goals, audience, messaging and competition in a well-defined process that reveals the gaps and overlaps and informs recommendations. Getting inside the problem results in better knowledge, deeper understanding and more positive results.

Posted in Advertising, B2B Technology, Business, Design, Higher Education, Media Relations, Medical Devices, Miscellaneous, Public Relations, Social Media | Leave a comment

A Little Optimizing Goes a Long Way

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Ashley Marsh

What’s the point of having a great idea or product if it doesn’t reach the right people?  Recently, I had the opportunity to sit in on a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Your Press Release Webinar. In this webinar, the SEO experts at Business Wire shared insights on how (and why) to apply SEO to a press release using proven techniques, tips, and tools.

Starting with free industry tools such as Google AdWords and Compete.com, Business Wire walked me through optimizing a press release’s content for search engines.  Consider the following takeaways when you draft your next release:

  • Keep headlines between 2 and 27 words.  If you include less or more, Google News may reject it.
  • Avoid using special characters in headlines such as ™ (trademark) and © (copyright) symbols as they can affect how your press release is indexed. If a search engine does not recognize a particular symbol, it will not recognize the headline.
  • The first paragraph should be at least two sentences in length – three is better.
  • Include bullets and bolding as they highlight key points.
  • Multimedia should be incorporated when possible as images stay with your release and are attention grabbing (ex: in a release about a new company CEO, include a picture of him or her).

These SEO tips and tools help our clients (and HB) stay ahead of competitors on a targeted search list and ensure great ideas and great products do reach the right people.

Posted in Business, Hart-Boillot, Media Relations, Public Relations, Writing | Leave a comment

Boston GreenFest – a pleasure and an honor

Posted on September 16, 2008 by Nicolas Boillot

A few words with Boston Greenfest organizer Karen Weber of the Foundation for a Green Future, and Hart-Boillot was on board. What better way to help advance some of our clients’ and our civilization’s causes than to contribute to such an event?

Boston GreenFest, which takes place on September 26 and 27 at City Hall plaza, needed assistance from all Hart-Boillot practices – media relations, to get the press and broadcast media interested and participating, creative services to design and produce numerous ads for all the media that have offered pro-bono insertions, and strategic communications to ensure that the look/feel and messaging are appropriate to the grass-roots mission.

While Boston GreenFest is a grass-roots initiative, it boasts an impressive list of sponsors and exhibitors. Get it in your calendar now, and get ready to learn about new technologies and ideas that can change our lives and help our planet at the same time. And, be prepared for great food, live music, and an expected 18,000 attendees.

Posted in Clean Tech, Green Living/Working, Hart-Boillot, Media Relations, Public Relations, Work | Tagged , | Leave a comment

How much should I spend on marketing communication?

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Nicolas Boillot

A client of ours – let’s call him M – is wrestling with how to significantly increase lead generation within a tight budget. He told me that in 2007, his company cut its advertising budget significantly, yet leads actually increased. His question to me: how low can we take the advertising budget?

Finding the low line:
Having built market share and a leadership reputation over 25 years, M’s company is able to reduce its advertising spend while maintaining, or actually increasing, lead generation. Obviously, the question “how low can we go?” is bound to come up.

There isn’t a formula to figure out exactly how much you can limit your advertising frequency and reach before target audiences sense that you’re no longer around or start forgetting to look at your products when specifying new designs.

Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Business, Media Relations, Miscellaneous, Public Relations | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Forging a Stronger Relationship with Editors and Journalists

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Nicolas Boillot

Working in public relations, or in any realm of client services, it is easy to get so consumed in achieving your client’s goals that you overlook the fundamentals of how to best accomplish them.  In an industry where we work so closely with editors and journalists, we need to consider what they face every day in order to most effectively work alongside them.

A few weeks ago, the HB PR department launched its annual editorial survey to find out what we can do better and what we want to avoid, in particular the “pet peeves” that drive an editor or journalist crazy. 

Our Account Director, Perrin McCormick, noted, “our findings solidified our working belief that editors receive an inordinate amount of data each day and therefore can only digest the key points of a news release.”  Though we weren’t shocked by the results, the survey reminded us of the fundamentals of public relations according to those we depend on most: the people who choose to publish or to ignore our clients’ news.

For a more detailed look at the research we gathered, please click here.

Posted in Hart-Boillot, Media Relations, Public Relations | Leave a comment

The Media as our Customer

Posted on December 4, 2007 by Nicolas Boillot

Sometimes we tell our clients that our most important customer is the editor or reporter, not the client. We explain that if we did everything our clients tell us to, then we could quickly end up irritating important people in our customers’ target media. Knowing that an editor (or other media person) is our top priority allows us to send articles, press releases and pitch ideas back to our clients asking for revisions because “Joe Marney will never accept it like that.”

At the end of the day, thinking of the media person as our most important customer results in making our clients look better to the media. It also allows us to add value to a client’s PR efforts instead of simply being middle-persons who move information back and forth between clients and the media.

In my first PR job, my boss used to say, “Call the editor — I don’t care if you have nothing to say to him; we told the client that we would call, and I want you to call and report about it to the client.” That made it pretty painful to dial the phone. On the other hand, it was great motivation for starting a new PR firm!

How and when do you pitch a story? Check out this short tutorial from the Detroit Free Press that tells reporters how to pitch a story to an editor. What goes for them often goes for us!

Posted in Media Relations | Leave a comment