The document discusses PR strategies for Zaarly, a peer-to-peer mobile marketplace. It recommends using clear, jargon-free messaging to explain the value of Zaarly. It also suggests coordinating social media releases, media outreach, events, and thought leadership to build awareness and interest in Zaarly. The goal is to position Zaarly at the intersection of mobile commerce and location-based services.
A talk given to the Public Relations Society of America by HPR founder John Hope-Johnstone on how to enhance your public relations campaign through social media.
How to Run a Successful Social Campaign for Your Law Firm Network Affiliates
This brief presentation will take you through step-by-step on how to run a successful social campaign for your law firm. While this presentation focuses on legal advertising, it is useful in understanding the steps needed to ensure a successful social campaign in any vertical.
A talk given to the Public Relations Society of America by HPR founder John Hope-Johnstone on how to enhance your public relations campaign through social media.
How to Run a Successful Social Campaign for Your Law Firm Network Affiliates
This brief presentation will take you through step-by-step on how to run a successful social campaign for your law firm. While this presentation focuses on legal advertising, it is useful in understanding the steps needed to ensure a successful social campaign in any vertical.
Facebook is all about the sharing: pictures of your puppy, memories of your wedding, invitations to parties and stories of your summer. Brands want to get in on the action too, but ever since The Social Network began cracking down on companies asking followers to share their content, it’s become increasingly difficult to capture the analytics that drive marketing decisions.
Fortunately, the sharing experience is still alive and well between brands and their Facebook followers. It’s all about creating content that makes your fans want to show it to others organically, i.e. without you expressly suggesting it.
The only way to truly know if your social media efforts are working for you is to measure your results. We cover some easy and more in depth ways to measure your social media success.
Social Media Is Not Internet MarketingChris Hewitt
Social Media is an obnoxiously hot topic. We have all listened, watched, and read about this ‘gotta have it’ new Internet trend and how it is revolutionizing the way in which businesses reach their target markets.
Determined not to be left behind (many of us still traumatized from slow Internet adoption in the 90’s), business professionals are eager to learn how Internet tools such Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, etc. can be leveraged to drive business value and elevate brand awareness. However, as the topic of Social Media is so broad, the majority of marketing professionals are approaching Social Media as another component of their Internet Marketing strategy. What we don’t get is that Social Media is NOT Internet Marketing.
This is a ‘true confessions’ session where I - an ‘old school’ Internet marketer - shares my own struggles with this realization, the social media mistakes I've made (and contributed to), and how we can learn from those experiences to build relevant, value-added social dialogues to engage our prospects and customers.
This presentation covers:
- The Social Media Gold Rush
- Why there isn’t a pot of gold at the end of the rush
- My top five Social Media Blunders
- How to find your authentic Voice and how it evolves into Strategy
Start with the WHY! How to express your company's story in your marketing, branding and social media.
Positioning and marketing your business
Determine your WHY
Learn how to tell (and sell) your story
Determine what is uniquely yours to give
Social Media Nuts and Bolts
Facebook marketing and advertising
Email marketing, blogs, landing pages
Tips and Tricks
Sharing content with thousands of followers at once isn’t the only benefit of social media for business. Small businesses all over the world have been discovering the ways social media can contribute to success and growth in all areas of their companies.
Curious about social media and how it can help boost business? Want to get started using social networking as a part of your marketing toolbox, but not sure where to start? This presentation talks about integrating Facebook, Twitter, blogging, YouTube, and LinkedIn and was developed as an aide in presenting to business groups.
If you are a member of a business group and are located in the Hudson Valley area, feel free to contact us regarding speaking engagements.
WLA 2021 - Digital Programming for Top ResultsMorgan Mann
Presented at the Wisconsin Library Association 2021 Winter Conference by Morgan Mann, Community Relations Library Assistant at Door County Library. Featuring statistics on the current numbers for social media outreach internationally and within Wisconsin and surrounding states.
Best Marketing Advice - 100 Global Experts Share Their Career WisdomHeidi Cohen
Looking to break into Marketing, PR or Social Media? Then read the best marketing career advice for recent graduates from 100 global experts. Includes Twitter & reading list.
How The Heck Do I Do Social Media Marketing - A Basic 101 LessonLiana "Li" Evans
Wondering how the heck to get started in Social Media Marketing? What are the basics you need to know before diving in with the sharks that swim in these social media waters? View this presentation!
This was a solo presentation given at Search Engine Strategies in New York in March 2010. This session covered the basics of social media, things too look out for, things to do and not to do, what goes into a strategy and how different types of social media communities relate to the types of people that are present in social media.
Check out http://www.socialconversations.com for more!
Presentation to PRSA Entreprener SIG - developed on questions asked.
The backstory is I had developed a presentation for PRSA but scrapped it based on the questions the members asked pre event. PPT Links:
http://geekmommy.net/- GeekMommy,
http://www.jnjbtw.com/ - JNJ BTW
http://www.iambossy.com/ - i am bossy
http://www.dcgoodwill.org/ - Goodwill of Greater Washington
http://frozenpeafund.com/ - Frozen Pea Fund
http://redcouch.typepad.com/ - Shel Israel
http://www.problogger.net/ - Darren Rowse
http://www.gapingvoid.com/ - gapingvoid
http://twitter.zappos.com/ - Zappos/Twitter
http://twitter.com/DonnaTocci - Donna Tocci
Facebook is all about the sharing: pictures of your puppy, memories of your wedding, invitations to parties and stories of your summer. Brands want to get in on the action too, but ever since The Social Network began cracking down on companies asking followers to share their content, it’s become increasingly difficult to capture the analytics that drive marketing decisions.
Fortunately, the sharing experience is still alive and well between brands and their Facebook followers. It’s all about creating content that makes your fans want to show it to others organically, i.e. without you expressly suggesting it.
The only way to truly know if your social media efforts are working for you is to measure your results. We cover some easy and more in depth ways to measure your social media success.
Social Media Is Not Internet MarketingChris Hewitt
Social Media is an obnoxiously hot topic. We have all listened, watched, and read about this ‘gotta have it’ new Internet trend and how it is revolutionizing the way in which businesses reach their target markets.
Determined not to be left behind (many of us still traumatized from slow Internet adoption in the 90’s), business professionals are eager to learn how Internet tools such Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, etc. can be leveraged to drive business value and elevate brand awareness. However, as the topic of Social Media is so broad, the majority of marketing professionals are approaching Social Media as another component of their Internet Marketing strategy. What we don’t get is that Social Media is NOT Internet Marketing.
This is a ‘true confessions’ session where I - an ‘old school’ Internet marketer - shares my own struggles with this realization, the social media mistakes I've made (and contributed to), and how we can learn from those experiences to build relevant, value-added social dialogues to engage our prospects and customers.
This presentation covers:
- The Social Media Gold Rush
- Why there isn’t a pot of gold at the end of the rush
- My top five Social Media Blunders
- How to find your authentic Voice and how it evolves into Strategy
Start with the WHY! How to express your company's story in your marketing, branding and social media.
Positioning and marketing your business
Determine your WHY
Learn how to tell (and sell) your story
Determine what is uniquely yours to give
Social Media Nuts and Bolts
Facebook marketing and advertising
Email marketing, blogs, landing pages
Tips and Tricks
Sharing content with thousands of followers at once isn’t the only benefit of social media for business. Small businesses all over the world have been discovering the ways social media can contribute to success and growth in all areas of their companies.
Curious about social media and how it can help boost business? Want to get started using social networking as a part of your marketing toolbox, but not sure where to start? This presentation talks about integrating Facebook, Twitter, blogging, YouTube, and LinkedIn and was developed as an aide in presenting to business groups.
If you are a member of a business group and are located in the Hudson Valley area, feel free to contact us regarding speaking engagements.
WLA 2021 - Digital Programming for Top ResultsMorgan Mann
Presented at the Wisconsin Library Association 2021 Winter Conference by Morgan Mann, Community Relations Library Assistant at Door County Library. Featuring statistics on the current numbers for social media outreach internationally and within Wisconsin and surrounding states.
Best Marketing Advice - 100 Global Experts Share Their Career WisdomHeidi Cohen
Looking to break into Marketing, PR or Social Media? Then read the best marketing career advice for recent graduates from 100 global experts. Includes Twitter & reading list.
How The Heck Do I Do Social Media Marketing - A Basic 101 LessonLiana "Li" Evans
Wondering how the heck to get started in Social Media Marketing? What are the basics you need to know before diving in with the sharks that swim in these social media waters? View this presentation!
This was a solo presentation given at Search Engine Strategies in New York in March 2010. This session covered the basics of social media, things too look out for, things to do and not to do, what goes into a strategy and how different types of social media communities relate to the types of people that are present in social media.
Check out http://www.socialconversations.com for more!
Presentation to PRSA Entreprener SIG - developed on questions asked.
The backstory is I had developed a presentation for PRSA but scrapped it based on the questions the members asked pre event. PPT Links:
http://geekmommy.net/- GeekMommy,
http://www.jnjbtw.com/ - JNJ BTW
http://www.iambossy.com/ - i am bossy
http://www.dcgoodwill.org/ - Goodwill of Greater Washington
http://frozenpeafund.com/ - Frozen Pea Fund
http://redcouch.typepad.com/ - Shel Israel
http://www.problogger.net/ - Darren Rowse
http://www.gapingvoid.com/ - gapingvoid
http://twitter.zappos.com/ - Zappos/Twitter
http://twitter.com/DonnaTocci - Donna Tocci
Like building a house, you want a solid foundation for your social media marketing efforts. This deck provides a high level look at what parts of the foundation you should have before just jumping in. A strong emphasis is on social media is not a stand alone strategy or tactic!
RETechTO JOLT Marketing with Ingrid MenningaGeorge O'Neill
Ingrid is heavily engaged in the social media world, from representing companies on social media sites to figuring out which updates get the most response from social media friends and followers. In her past life, Ingrid spearheaded the first ever social media campaign for Royal LePage Canada which resulted in a 400% increase in participation over previous traditional campaigns and she also worked with Invis Mortgages as a Marketing Specialist managing the CRM, prospecting and agent advertising programs.
In the presentation you will learn:
Which social media sites give you the most value for your time
How to find and engage your target market using social media
What works and what doesn’t
Where social media fits into your sales process
The 5 biggest mistakes REALTORS® make in social media
Many understand that to grow their business, they need have to a solid marketing plan. However, business owners wear a lot of hats and often push marketing to the bottom of the ‘to-do list.’ Many also know they need to get serious about adding social media into the marketing mix, but are not sure where to start and become overwhelmed by the process.
Making it Happen will show you how to market your business by:
Understanding the marketing pie and incorporating the social media slice
Targeting the ideal client and creating powerful content
Establishing the mechanics of branding and consistency
Engaging in best practices
Managing an online presence to minimize time and maximize results
Coverings2011: Practical Marketing - Digital Visibility for Small BusinessesSimple Marketing Now LLC
Marketing and promoting your business matter now more than ever in a world where customers educate themselves online first. You must be digitally visible. The challenge for many small businesses is finding the resources [including people] to market effectively while also running day-to-day operations. How then to prioritize what you do so you don’t neglect activities that connect with customers online and offline, while also delivering business results? The solution has to do with thinking about how you deliver value to customers, while creating content that addresses customers’ needs.
Deluxe/Risdall Social Media Marketing Webinar PresentationDeluxe Corporation
You’ve heard the buzz about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & LinkedIn, now find out how to harness the power of social media for your own business!
• Why social media works for small businesses
• How to listen first before launching your campaign
• How to create a social media strategy that works
• What elements make up a successful campaign
Now’s the time to leverage social media to build better relationships with your customers and prospects, ultimately driving more sales for your business.
Too often, companies with incredible forward momentum fall utterly flat when launching a new product or announcing a round of funding. Why? Because they missed a crucial step in announcement prep or execution. Securing strategic coverage about your major milestone takes careful planning and creative communication. That's why we created a detailed launch checklist to help guide your next announcement and drive real business results. Bookmark it, print it out, save it to your desktop -- make sure it's handy for your upcoming launch.
Best practices for leveraging Instagram as a PR tool.
When viewed through a PR lens, Instagram becomes more than just a place for sharing selfies and “food porn.” How can PR pros leverage the platform to build brands and reach new audiences? Learn how to use Instagram to drive meaningful, measurable PR outcomes – proving a photo really is worth more than a thousand words.
How can organizations build and activate online audiences? Which social networks should nonprofits invest their (limited!) resources? What recent campaigns produced results on a limited budget?
Heather Whaling, president of Geben Communication, recently conducted a social media training for a group of nonprofit organizations, all struggling to connect with audiences via social media on (very!) limited budgets. This presentation explains the three golden rules of social media, pros/cons of various networks and offers case studies showcasing effective uses of social media. Feel free to "remix" and borrow from these ideas to strengthen your own online presence.
Interested in having Heather speak to your organization or help you developed a customized plan? Email her: heather [at] gebencommunucation.com
What apps keep you productive when you're on-the-go? We were asked to provide a brief overview and introduction to some of the best tools to help busy pros. Here's our list of must-have apps to maximize productivity!
At Road Race Management 2013, Heather shared 20+ trends and tools to help event managers socialize the experience -- from registration and pre-event promotion, to race-day mobile communication ideas and real-time marketing opportunities. Whether you're planning a marathon or a 5K even series, this presentation is for you. And, if you're an event planner who has nothing to do with racing, you'll still find the tools and tactics in this presentation very applicable.
PR has an innovation problem. In this presentation, Heather Whaling (@prTini) shares tips and case studies to help PR people infuse tactics with creativity and innovation to generate better outcomes.
Social TV Activation: Driving Engagement & Viewership for a PBS Documentary P...Geben Communication
Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope premiered on select local PBS stations on Thursday, January 31. The film’s director, Emmy Award-winning veteran journalist and documentary filmmaker Dan Cohen, hired Geben Communication to build and activate Mission of Hope’s online network through social media and online media/blogger outreach. This case study details the strategy, tactics and results.
This presentation was designed to help community-focused organizations elevate their social media marketing beyond the basics. From how to build a strategy, tips for content marketing, and tools to create/share better content, this presentation covers a wide variety of topics. Initially delivered to the Ohio Association for County Boards, government agencies that serve people with developmental disabilities, the presentation will help organizations look as amazing *online* as they are offline.
The running community is very active online. Marathons and other road races should leverage social communication channels to build and activate communities year-round. When done right, this can strengthen customer service, deliver a better race-day experience, mitigate crisis situations, drive registrations and recruit volunteers. Using the Columbus Marathon as a case study, this presentation was first delivered to the Road Race Management annual conference. Want Heather Whaling to help your event harness the power of social media? Just email: heather [at] gebencommunication.com.
We tend to talk about monitoring social media in terms of reputation management or customer service. Active listening is also a PR tool. This presentation offers case studies illustrating how listening generated media placements.
Storytelling has always been a core component of public relations, but we can't rely on "tried and true" tactics to disseminate those stories. By adding a layer of technology, storytelling has evolved into "content marketing" -- a highly effective PR strategy. This presentation offers three examples of PR-driven content marketing that generated measurable, bottom-line results.
Social media has added a new layer to public relations. This presentation covers digital PR strategies and tactics, as well as specific tips to innovate best practices. Initially delivered for a Thomson Reuters webinar. Looking for a PR speaker? Contact Heather Whaling to see about presentations for conferences and workshops. heather[at]gebencommunication.com
How can Twitter help PR pros be more effective? This presentation offers some tips to help PR people connect with reporters, spot trends and network -- all key parts to successfully doing your job. [Delivered to the Ohio State University.]
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
In his public lecture, Christian Timmerer provides insights into the fascinating history of video streaming, starting from its humble beginnings before YouTube to the groundbreaking technologies that now dominate platforms like Netflix and ORF ON. Timmerer also presents provocative contributions of his own that have significantly influenced the industry. He concludes by looking at future challenges and invites the audience to join in a discussion.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
Why You Should Replace Windows 11 with Nitrux Linux 3.5.0 for enhanced perfor...SOFTTECHHUB
The choice of an operating system plays a pivotal role in shaping our computing experience. For decades, Microsoft's Windows has dominated the market, offering a familiar and widely adopted platform for personal and professional use. However, as technological advancements continue to push the boundaries of innovation, alternative operating systems have emerged, challenging the status quo and offering users a fresh perspective on computing.
One such alternative that has garnered significant attention and acclaim is Nitrux Linux 3.5.0, a sleek, powerful, and user-friendly Linux distribution that promises to redefine the way we interact with our devices. With its focus on performance, security, and customization, Nitrux Linux presents a compelling case for those seeking to break free from the constraints of proprietary software and embrace the freedom and flexibility of open-source computing.
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Welcome to the first live UiPath Community Day Dubai! Join us for this unique occasion to meet our local and global UiPath Community and leaders. You will get a full view of the MEA region's automation landscape and the AI Powered automation technology capabilities of UiPath. Also, hosted by our local partners Marc Ellis, you will enjoy a half-day packed with industry insights and automation peers networking.
📕 Curious on our agenda? Wait no more!
10:00 Welcome note - UiPath Community in Dubai
Lovely Sinha, UiPath Community Chapter Leader, UiPath MVPx3, Hyper-automation Consultant, First Abu Dhabi Bank
10:20 A UiPath cross-region MEA overview
Ashraf El Zarka, VP and Managing Director MEA, UiPath
10:35: Customer Success Journey
Deepthi Deepak, Head of Intelligent Automation CoE, First Abu Dhabi Bank
11:15 The UiPath approach to GenAI with our three principles: improve accuracy, supercharge productivity, and automate more
Boris Krumrey, Global VP, Automation Innovation, UiPath
12:15 To discover how Marc Ellis leverages tech-driven solutions in recruitment and managed services.
Brendan Lingam, Director of Sales and Business Development, Marc Ellis
zkStudyClub - Reef: Fast Succinct Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Regex ProofsAlex Pruden
This paper presents Reef, a system for generating publicly verifiable succinct non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs that a committed document matches or does not match a regular expression. We describe applications such as proving the strength of passwords, the provenance of email despite redactions, the validity of oblivious DNS queries, and the existence of mutations in DNA. Reef supports the Perl Compatible Regular Expression syntax, including wildcards, alternation, ranges, capture groups, Kleene star, negations, and lookarounds. Reef introduces a new type of automata, Skipping Alternating Finite Automata (SAFA), that skips irrelevant parts of a document when producing proofs without undermining soundness, and instantiates SAFA with a lookup argument. Our experimental evaluation confirms that Reef can generate proofs for documents with 32M characters; the proofs are small and cheap to verify (under a second).
Paper: https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1886
Observability Concepts EVERY Developer Should Know -- DeveloperWeek Europe.pdfPaige Cruz
Monitoring and observability aren’t traditionally found in software curriculums and many of us cobble this knowledge together from whatever vendor or ecosystem we were first introduced to and whatever is a part of your current company’s observability stack.
While the dev and ops silo continues to crumble….many organizations still relegate monitoring & observability as the purview of ops, infra and SRE teams. This is a mistake - achieving a highly observable system requires collaboration up and down the stack.
I, a former op, would like to extend an invitation to all application developers to join the observability party will share these foundational concepts to build on:
22. “ We’ve been through a few different PR firms and didn’t have a huge amount of luck, so we started to pick who we wanted to work with much more by the individual, rather than the firm.” - Bo Fishback in Inc.com.
Introduction PR lead for Zaarly. Also work with a freelancer in Boston and a NY PR consultant. The three of us for the PR team. Work closely with the rest of the Zaarly team.
Particularly in the start-up space, people glom on to jargony words. Pinvot, ladder up, etc. It’s a constant challenge to make sure those things don’t become part of our actual messaging. We’re not talking to other start-ups and techies. So, while P2P marketplaces makes sense in Silicon Alley and Silicon Valley, it’s just confusing to regular people. So is collaborative consumption. Sounds like we’re all just having a massive dinner party! We need messages that will resonate with people looking for a better way to get things done.
We have some messages for Zaarly that we’ve been using, but we’re currently in the process of crystalizing the “Zaarly story.” Our goal is to focus on these items. We need to lose the jargon. We have to explain why . Who are we, why do we matter in your life, and what makes us different/better than other options. We’ve found adding context and showing -- through user stories -- are among the most effective ways to persuade people to give Zaarly a try.
When working with start-ups (or any business really!), clear messaging is part of a needed foundation. Also need relatable stories. Particularly today, it’s critical to build an online and an offline network. With Zaarly, that means an active FB & Twitter presence. But, it also means organizing “start-up crawls” in NY & SF, hosting happy hours, creating “secret” FB groups to connect power users with each other, “Zaarly nation” for supporters and advocates, etc. In the start-up space, there’s often a lot of buzz when you first launch or when you get funding, but the challenge is building and sustaining ongoing momentum.
With Zaarly, we were really lucky to have a lot of initail bizz. Let me tell you the short version of the Z story. Bo, airport. 6 ft tall. A-ha moment. At Kaufman Foundation, knew SUW people. Went to LA event, decided to pitch his idea. It won. Ashton was a judge. Seed funding Bo, Eric and Ian all had “regular” jobs, which they quick to focus on Zaarly full time. In just a couple weeks, they launched at SXSW and facilitated $10K+ in transactions. With that plugged-in tech crwod all abuzz, they knew they were on to something with huge potential. And the timing was just perfect.
Zaarly couldn’t have worked a couple years. From a PR standpoint, it’s important for us to understand the evolution of the marketplace. At the intersection of these big trends that are changing how people shop, sell, interact. The media is very interested in how people and businesses are going mobile. But, they’re also interested in how shopping habits change. (How many stories did you see about online shopping, mobile commerce coming out of Black Friday and heading into holiday shopping season?) Our job is to figure out how to capitalize on all these trends to generate media coverage that build awareness, educates people about mobile commerce, and convinces people to try Zaarly.
Aside from launching products and updates, Zaarly uses PR to accomplish a variety of other outcomes, including:
Educatino and thought-leadership. Guest posts on HuffPo, infographics, op-eds help position Zaarly on the leading edge of these new trends, and also reinforce Zaarly as a credible start-up -- one worth trusting with your commerce. Infographics have been hugely successful for us. Zaarly currates info that relates to how people are using the app, without being too app-focused. For example, the infographic on music festivals, how moms use technology -- all connected to Zaarly, but the graphs don’t focus on Zaarly. As a result, we’ve been on the front page of Digg, shared by Guy Kawasaki and picked up by niche blogs. Together, these have driven significant traffic to the site.
PR helps legitimize Zaarly to a non-techy audience. The co-founders have been on Fox Business, Bloomberg West, plus Zaarly’s NY announcement -- and quote from the mayor -- was featured on Inc.com From a social standpoint, this also provides the social team with additional content to share. Local TV interviews have been really valuable for us, often leading to a spike in user sign-ups and listings.
From being included in a front-page WSJ story, to securing local coverage in markets where we’re focusing -- like SF, Chicago, or Seattle -- as well as staying connected to the tech press, we can build and sustain the PR momentum. This helps us generate awareness and catch people’s attention. This increase in attention is an important part of the user acquisition funnel.
We use Twitter lists to track reporters we’ve pitched, hope to pitch or worked with previously. This helps us make sure we don’t miss what they’re saying or asking. This helped us secure a place on CNN’s 7 must-have Black Friday apps. Saw the reporter tweet, send the lead to the person on our team who had worked with this reporter previousyl and voila. CNN. Black Friday was a natural fit for us to pitching shopping related stories. Use Zaarly to avoid waiting in lines, etc. We pitched and Zaarly blogged, plus we purchased some promoted tweets and Facebook ads. As a result, Zaarly saw a major uptick in activity around Black Friday:
We’re in the midst of a campaign that focuses on parents -- targeting those who think more strategically about their time. Do you want a custom cake for your kids or need someone to pick up the dry cleaning so you can spend more time with your kids? Around the holidays, we’ve seen things like catering for holiday parts or hanging XMAS lights. This campaign is a combination of paid, earned and “owned” outreach. We’re paying some mombloggers and gave a few others Zaarly $$ to test the service and share their experiences. We’re also working with a site to host a contest, and pitching guest posts from Bo about what it’s like being a busy parent and how Zaarly can help parents get more done. And, we’ve got our own blog content -- 25 ways parents can use Zaarly, plus a forthcoming infographic on how technology helps households run more smoothly.
Zaarly also launched Zaarly U - to onboard college kids. Hugely successful. In fact, some of Zaarly’s most active users are the college kids. Ambassador program -- Campus CEOs -- lead the program at each college. They create all kinds of campaigns to get students to sign up. We support with targeted PR to their student papers and local community media. The Campus CEOs act as our spokesperson to their local media. It’s been really fun working with the kids. They’re super excited about the program and working really hard. I think I saw that Marquette has nearly 10% of their student body signed up. That’s quite the infiltration in a short period of time.
In the start-up space, funding and board members are carefully orchestrated news events. Particularly in today’s tech world, where lots of money is being thrown around, it’s important to plan and execute the roll-out to maximize the coverage.
Zaarly recently announced Series A funding -- $!4 million led by Kleiner Perkins. As part of this, we were also bringing Meg Whitman to the board. Meg grew eBay into an ecommerce powerhouse. Zaarly is the next iteration and as we try to lead the shift toward mobile commerce, her insights are invaluable. Despite the blog posts and commentary to the contrary, the embargo is still very much a viable tactic, particularly with major news like this. We developed our list of media -- everything from Portfolio, Forbes, and All Things D, to Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Inc and Bloomberg. We had a few outlets -- WSJ -- decline the embargo, but for the most part, everyone agreed to hold the news. We shared the info with them, set up interviews with Bo Fishback and a KP rep, also offered a quote from Meg. The day the story broke, we had more than 60 news stories go live.
Because we emphasized the top-tier media during the embargo process, that initial wave of coverage sparked a next wave of stories, helping us secure literally hundreds of articles. From a social standpoint, we knew when the story was going to break (per the embargo), so we were able to use FB & Twitter to tease it. Then, we shared some of the coverage on our social channels. Also had a blog post from Bo
This is one of my favorite quotes from the CEO. Inc did a story on Zaarly gettting a glowing quote from Mayor Bloomberg as part of the NYC office announcement. Our NY PR guy had a relationship with the Mayor’s office that we were able to tap into. The point behind Bo’s quote is something I hope more companies understand. And that’s the secret to successful PR, whether you’re working with a startup or a long-standing company … B2B or B2C. As we’ve shown with Zaarly, you don’t have to work for one of the major, international firms to develop and execute innovative strategies that generate strong, bottom-line driven results. I’m willing to put this case study up against any major firm and I think we can hold our own. With that, questions about Zaarly or our PR? And, now would be a good time to sign up for the service. :)