PR & Marketing Is Changing – Are You? Online PR provides the means to reach target audiences directly, with or without participation of the news media. Internet marketers have been doing that for years, but public relations professionals have been slow to get on board. No PR professional can afford to ignore online PR or outsource it to specialists; it is an essential part of the skill set all PR professionals must have. It’s as fundamental as writing, pitching and building relationships.
So, what must you know to thrive in this ever-changing online environment? If you’re like most public relations pros, you need a broader knowledgebase, greater online skills – and perhaps, a new mindset. PR pros are doing a better job with social media than keyword research and SEO, which much change. To define online PR simply as social media is short-sighted and will lead PR pros astray. This jam-packed webinar will give you a critical understanding of the basic online PR skills you need to master fast, for the sake of your clients, employers and your career.
Learning Topics:
- When SEO meets PR: how to write effectively for sites, releases, articles and newsletters
- When PR meets social media: which sites, what to monitor, and how do you know it’s working?
- How keyword research for Online PR differs from online advertising
- Online PR best practices for your website
- Optimizing online press releases—what’s most effective now
What You Will Learn:
- 4 results-driven SEO techniques for online PR
- A 10-minute keyword research method that always yields insights
- The right and wrong role websites play with Online PR
- 3 proven ways to write copy for both humans and search engines
- Traditional vs. online releases: the real data may surprise you
- An overlooked yet powerful method to gain consistent web site traffic
- The Online PR Social Media blueprint: it’s not what you think
- Buzz and reputation monitoring: recommended tools and tactics.
Presented by:
Jim Bowman has broad experience in all functional areas of public relations and corporate communications, with an emphasis on media relations. As Vice President of Corporate Communications for Nokia Inc., he was part of the global team that established Nokia as one of the world’s top 10 brands. Jim’s strategies and creative thinking have helped build the brands and images of some of the world’s most respected companies and get small companies known. As owner and President of J. R. Bowman and Associates, LLC, Jim now concentrates on serving small-to-medium-size businesses. Jim’s ability to diagnose PR problems and suggest solutions earned him the name, “The PR Doc®” among his associates. He has launched http://www.theprdoc.com to help small agencies and individual public relations practitioners get affordable access to PR tools and expert help from senior practitioners. Jim was recognized by his peers with election to the Arthur W. Page Society, a selected-membership organization of senior public relations executives, and appointment to the client advisory board of the Council of Public Relations Firms.
Mike Moran, is author of the acclaimed book on Internet marketing, Do It Wrong Quickly, on the heels of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc., Mike Moran led many initiatives on IBM’s Web site for eight years, including IBM’s original search marketing strategy. Mike holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing, and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He also writes marketing columns for Internet Evolution and Search Engine Guide. Mike frequently keynotes conferences on Internet marketing for marketers, public relations specialists, market researchers, and technologists, and serves as Chief Strategist for Converseon, a leading digital media marketing agency. Prior to joining Converseon, Mike worked for IBM for 30 years, rising to the level of Distinguished Engineer. Mike can be reached through his Web site (mikemoran.com), which is also home to his Biznology newsletter and blog.
Marc Harty is CEO of MainTopic Media, Inc., a strategically focused, values-driven, marketing consultancy and training company. Ever the entrepreneur, Marc has owned an ad agency, a web development firm, and a search marketing firm. A marketing strategist with over two decades of distinguished service, Marc has won over 200 local, national and International awards, including two Clio’s and “Best Of Show” from The Dallas Ad League. Marc speaks regularly on Online PR, Thought Leadership, Social Marketing and Internet Business Transformation. His true passion? Developing proven marketing programs that can help anyone get the visibility and results to successfully manifest their life purpose.
Because they have access to the tools that personally connect them to their friends, family and peers, employees are jeopardizing their organization’s brand stature, reputation and competitive edge, often without realizing it. Without thinking, employees are sharing candid and damaging thoughts and updates — intentionally and unintentionally – that possess an uncanny ability to surface when least expected and be discovered by people who were never supposed to see them in the first place. And, perhaps accidentally, employees are sharing company secrets and information that should never see the light of day, and are doing so simply because they aren’t aware of the reach and power they have on the social web. This CD is aimed at helping corporate communication, marketing and PR professionals understand and lead their organization’s into the new world of online engagement, where the most operative rule may be simply: Don’t be stupid.
“I have attended a few “freebie” classes from other services, but found yours to be much more informative on the action side. Giving real life, no kidding ideas on how to do things.”
“Very informative and worthwhile. The speaker was articulate and knowledgeable and made me think.”
What You Will Learn:
- What are the absolute rules of engagement that all your employees should know
- Social media horror stories and some policies to avoid them
- Building marketing and service teams around social media programs
- Top 10 guidelines for social media participation
- Teaching employees to talk: it’s not only what you say, it’s how you say it
- Who answers what … the best processes to manage brand conversations
- New roles and responsibilities in the era of emerging media
- How to guide the rise and evolution of social media in your organization
Presented by:
Brian Solis is globally recognized as one of most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has influenced the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications, and publishing. He is principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning New Media agency in Silicon Valley, and has led interactive and social programs for Fortune 500 companies, notable celebrities, and Web 2.0 startups. BrianSolis.com is ranked among the top of world’s leading business and marketing online resources.
Brian’s newest book is Engage! The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web.
Solis along with co-author Deirdre Breakenridge released Putting the Public back in Public Relations in 2009. Published by Financial Times Press, the book has become a best seller and is highly regarded a must read by anyone in marketing, communications, and also journalism.
In concert with Geoff Livingston, Solis released Now is Gone in 2007, an early, award-winning book that helps businesses learn how to engage in Social Media. He has also written several ebooks on the subjects of Social Media, New PR, Customer Service, and Blogger Relations.
Social media is a two-edged sword. We tend to only talk about the positive side — how social channels creatively deployed can greatly expand your organization’s marketing reach. Not much attention is paid to the dark, destructive side of social media — how a single customer complaint ignite a firestorm sweeping the Web and causing the most hardened organizations to panic. What to do? What to say?
This webinar explains the dynamics of customer activism in today’s democratized media world. It offers practical, actionable avoidance and response strategies for business executives and professional communicators. It also outlines processes to building an attack-proof culture that centers on customer satisfaction.
The good news is that bad buzz can be countered by earnest and savvy customer engagement. You can actually turn the angriest customers into raving fans.
“Great information that I can share with others who handle social media. Very informative and loved hearing the case studies.”
What You Will Learn:
- Why common business responses to customer complaints often make matters worse;
- Why complaining customers can be some of an organization’s most valuable assets;
- How vocal critics can be turned into raving fans with an active response strategy;
- How to manage and respond to comments on customer review sites;
- Customer support strategies for Facebook and Twitter;
- How to organize a team to identify and respond to attacks in minutes; and
- How to create a culture that puts customers first.
Who Should Attend
This webinar is designed for everyone who would like to help their organizations react to any online crisis that might erupt. It is especially suitable for:
- Brand managers, marketers, PR pros, social media managers, communications department staffers, public affairs, security, employee communications, media relations and issues management professionals.
Presented by:
Paul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is a popular speaker who is known for his ability to simplify complex concepts using plain talk, anecdotes and humor.
Paul is a prolific writer who has written five books and more than 200 published articles since 2007, in addition to two blogs. His award-winning 2007 book, The New Influencers, chronicled the changes in markets being driven by the new breed of bloggers and podcasters. His most recent book is Attack of the Customers. It documents the increasing incidence of online customer negativity and tells of businesses can avoid being victimized.
Think of any great presenter—Steve Jobs, Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos—and it won’t take you long to figure out that they are also master storytellers. Storytelling is increasingly becoming a “must-have” skill for business leaders, but you still won’t find it on any MBA curriculum.
This webinar will give you a deeper understanding why story is such a powerful strategic tool and how it can be used in the business setting. We will show you a specific “before and after” example of how a case study was transformed into powerful case story for pitching new business. We’ll also give you some key tips on how to craft and use stories to make an impact in your next big presentation or business meeting.
“As an ex-newspaper reporter, I have always recognized the value of storytelling. This webinar helped provide a great framework for bringing people into the important strategic and cultural stories I need to be communicating.”
What You Will Learn:
- The neuroscience and psychology that proves why stories work
- Tips for transforming run-of-the-mill presentation content into powerful stories that engage audiences
- How storytelling can be used as strategic tool to build chemistry and trust with others
- How even data-driven presentations can benefit from the art of storytelling
- The difference between conventional storytelling and strategic storytelling for business purposes. Please bring your ideas and questions!
Who Should Attend
This webinar is primarily aimed at those in the early stages of implementing or learning about strategic business storytelling, although it will also help more advanced practioners to focus their efforts. It is especially suitable for:
- Small and mid-sized business leaders
- Corporate executives who are new to storytelling
Presented by:
Jane Praeger is a former documentary filmmaker and faculty member in Columbia University’s M.S. program in Strategic Communications and Communications Practice where she teaches presentation design and delivery, communications strategy, strategic storytelling and writing. She founded Ovid Inc. in 1992 to help people find their public voices. Since then, she has provided speech, presentation, media training and customized workshops, to corporations such as Nickelodeon, Coach, Estee Lauder, McKinsey & Company, Euro RSCG Worldwide, as well as other technology, entertainment, and consulting firms. On the non-profit side, she has worked with Open Society Foundations, Doctors Without Borders, Atlantic Philanthropies, The Ms. Foundation, Harvard University, Columbia University Business School, and many others.
Heather Thomas is a business builder who has clocked countless hours performing “on stage” in the presentation spotlight. She earned her stripes in the agency world, working at Agency.com, Modem Media and the digital agency Critical Mass where she built their Business Development and Corporate Marketing practice from the ground up, ultimately tripling their revenue. After crafting hundreds of high-stakes presentations to win clients such as Procter & Gamble, NASA and Dell, Heather joined Ovid in 2010 to pass what she learned about persuasive presentations to others. In addition to her work with Ovid, Heather runs Winsome, a business development consulting boutique. She is also an adjunct instructor at Columbia University where she teaches Masters students the art of strategic storytelling. Heather is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University.
There’s a new social media world order and its tentacles are reaching inside organizations.
Employees expect to connect and have conversations with coworkers as easily as they do with old high school chums on Facebook. Meanwhile, corporate communication, HR, IT and leadership are struggling with how to unleash social tools in a way that amps up communication, collaboration and employee engagement.
Dan Pontefract, head of Learning & Collaboration at TELUS, believes strongly that traditional management styles are obsolete and that organizations need to adopt a collaborative, open leadership approach, one that engages and empowers all employees. This inevitably means social software.
In this webinar, you will learn from someone who’s paving a trail through this new terrain. Pontefract, author of the new book, Flat Army, will give us a tour of the TELUS intranet and tell how he has driven a philosophical and cultural shift in the way TELUS communicates, collaborates and learns.
What You Will Learn:
- The importance of social tools to an organization’s culture, leadership programs and learning model
- How leaders can provide context, content and a vehicle for conversation through social tools
- Specific examples of social tools in leadership action
Who Should Attend
Social business is a team sport. Business leaders from many disciplines have a role to play and should attend this webinar, preferably as a group:
- internal communications, HR , learning, marketing, corporate communications, public relations, customer service, legal and media relations.
Presented by:
Dan Pontefract is a passionate leader in social business, Enterprise 2.0, learning, leadership and collaboration. He is author of Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization.
As head of Learning & Collaboration atTELUS, Dan championed the introduction of the TELUS Leadership Philosophy (TLP), an open and collaborative-based leadership framework for all 40,000+ TELUS team members. He further championed the use and deployment of collaborative technologies to complement both the learning and leadership frameworks. In 2010, Pontefract was acknowledged as a Vanguard Award winner and is a two-time winner of the Corporate University “Best in Class Awards” for the Leader of the Year. In 2012, SkillSoft awarded him the “Learning Leader of the Year” for his work at TELUS. Pontefract holds a Masters of Business Administration, a Bachelor’s of Education, and multiple industry certifications and accreditations. His first book, Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization publishes in March, 2013.
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Whether explicit or not, all corporate communication has an underlying goal of persuading an audience to do something, i.e., like you, trust you, embrace a scary change, buy your product or service, etc.
Even if you buy this logic, you probably aren’t yet persuaded that you need to purchase this webinar on moving an audience to action. Why? Because facts and data alone do not convince audiences; they have to desire to act. That’s where rhetoric, the study of understanding, discovering and developing arguments for particular situations, comes in. It behooves all of us in business, especially those in corporate communications, to know and use the essential time-tested secrets for changing an audience’s mood, mind and willingness to act.
Don’t miss this chance to learn from rhetoric expert and author of Thank You For Arguing, Jay Heinrichs, who has been described as a cross between Cicero and David Letterman. During this pithy and entertaining webinar, Jay will teach us the most practical tips and tools to master the art of persuasion, whether when speaking or writing, using sources as diverse as Aristotle, Lincoln and Homer Simpson. Whether you work in marketing, sales, public relations, internal communications or executive leadership, this webinar is for you. Are you persuaded yet?
“The Pivot concept was the best idea. Thanks for putting these together – you offer a valuable product at affordable prices.”
What You Will Learn:
- First, the 3-step strategy for getting the audience the mood and moving it toward action
- Ethos, pathos or logos … which persuades best, when?
- What’s the best medium for your message?
- A simple strategy to get an argument unstuck
- Aristotle’s three traits of credible leadership
- A “tool kit” of rhetorical tactics, from the Pivot to the Reluctant Conclusion
Who Should Attend
This webinar is designed for everyone who would like to win audiences and move them to action by understanding the power of rhetoric. It is especially suitable for:
- Corporate communicators, marketers, adverting execs, HR, sales, writers and editors, teachers, students and politicians.
Presented by:
Jay Heinrichs “brings the art of persuasion to the masters of manipulation,” according to Bloomberg Businessweek. After 25 years as a journalist and publishing executive, Jay dedicated himself to studying persuasion full-time, researching ancient and modern rhetoric and linguistics, interviewing rhetoricians around the country, and studying modern neuroscience. Combining rhetoric with marketing techniques, he teaches some of the most powerful tools of persuasion, ranging from “Ethos C4” to the “Eddie Haskell Ploy.” Jay’s book, Thank You for Arguing, is published in six languages and bought in bulk by corporations, high school AP English programs, and college rhetoric departments. Jay is also the author of Word Hero, a fun guide to becoming a better writer and speaker. You can learn more atjayheinrichs.com.
In this age of rapid communication, openness and transparency, it becomes more important than ever to find common ground and forums for dialogue with stakeholder groups beyond customers and shareholders. Mutually beneficial alliances with environmentalists, health-care advocates and similar groups can provide insights into markets, societal trends and public concerns. Done well, such alliances can enhance the reputation of both the company involved and the advocacy group. Learn how McDonald’s and Tyson Foods have implemented mutually beneficial alliances with advocacy groups and NGOs.
What You Will Learn:
- What works and what doesn’t in building alliances with advocacy groups
- NGOs as friends, foes and collaborators
- Best practices in forming productive alliances with advocacy groups
Questions Asked and Answered
- What are some of the criteria you use to select NGO’s?
- Do you see significant variance between the individuals within NGO’s?
- Does McDonalds carry on an open dialogue with PETA and other antagonists in the 9 and 10 zone?
- Can you talk more about using social networking for NGO engagement?
- CSPI and PETA are very antagonistic; what guidance can you offer for dealig with these specific entities?
- What’s the most effective approach for a national company with only 1 PR and 1 Community Relations employee and no agency?
- Is it best to focus on one issue like Tyson is doing with hunger, and establish leadership over long term, or try to be involved in many other issues on a lesser scale?
- Are there any examples faith-based organizations who have been good partners for you to work with?
- Social media engagement takes a lot of manpower to do. Are either of you adding to staff to engage online with NGO’s?
- Can you both give examples of how you have enabled local leaders to emulate your corporate strategies on a local basis?
- Who is the most important audience to hear about your commitment to hunger?
Presented by:
Bob Langert is Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility for McDonald’s. His responsibilities with McDonald’s include social responsibility efforts, including McDonald’s social responsibility reporting; Global environmental management systems and issues; Global supply chain issues (e.g., sustainable agriculture, biotechnology, animal agricultural and animal welfare programs); Issues management; and part of McDonald’s “Balanced, Active Lifestyles” team.
Langert joined McDonald’s in 1983, with management positions in logistics and packaging purchasing in the 80s; and responsibilities for environment, energy management, animal welfare, Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities, emerging issues’ management, and, most recently, social responsibility in the 90’s through today. He earned an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; a BA from Lewis University, Romeoville, Illinois, and a BS at Hamburger University.
Ed Nicholson is currently director of corporate community and public relations for Tyson Foods, Inc. He has been with Tyson since 1995, previously serving as the company’s director of media relations, and primary media spokesperson. Ed is part of a team that helps create and implement community relations strategies in the 100 U.S. communities in which Tyson Foods has operations. He is also responsible for managing relationships within Tyson’s primary area of philanthropic activity, hunger relief. He has been at the forefront of Tyson’s use of social media, which is focused on creating community around the issue of hunger.
Peter Faur, president of RightPoint Communications Inc., has been
on the front lines of controversies ranging from environmental spills and cleanups to industrial fatalities to allegations of animal abuse at marine theme parks. He is known for keeping a cool head, getting people from many walks of life to talk together, and helping people learn how to explore each other’s concerns so they can find mutually agreeable solutions to problems they face. Faur moved to Phoenix in late 2002 to head the communications staff of Phelps Dodge Corp., a copper-mining company acquired in 2007 by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. As vice president-corporate communications, he was responsible for all the company’s internal and external communications programs. He designed and implemented a community relations and communications model now replicated in several communities in which the company is pursuing environmental remediation projects. While the issues are controversial, the company has been able to build bases of support and has kept strong, results-oriented dialogues in place.
Additional Resources:
- McDonald’s Corporate Responsibility homepage
- Tyson Foods Hunger Relief Homepage – Recent News Releases
- Peter Faur’s Common Ground Blog Post on this webinar
As Twitter takes off as a branding tool there is an overriding sense of uncertainty. What is the set of tools (video, text, photo, audio, search, clients, etc.) that comprise microsharing? What does it do? What can we use it for? How do we reach our audience here? How is this different? How can we measure success? How do we govern it? What works?
Smart businesses understand how best to approach the microsharing opportunity. In this webinar, we’ll learn and develop standards of excellence, authenticity and engagement that will work for your organization.
Testimonial: “At first I thumbed my nose because Twitter struck me as a mile wide and an inch deep; but Pistachio knew her stuff and quickly engaged me with relevant material.”
What You Will Learn:
- Understand the territory and shortcut your learning curve
- Innovate productive, valuable, profitable uses of microsharing
- Save time and money
- Avoid damaging mistakes
- Be engaging, genuine and use the medium to its fullest
- (and… have fun doing it!)
What You Will Learn:
- Understand the territory and shortcut your learning curve
- Innovate productive, valuable, profitable uses of microsharing
- Save time and money
- Avoid damaging mistakes
- Be engaging, genuine and use the medium to its fullest
- (and… have fun doing it!)
Questions Answered:
- Landscape for business use of Twitter and microsharing generally
- How to think about brand opportunities in microsharing
- What’s on the horizon? What trends should we watch for next
Who Should Purchase
Brands …engage more deeply with their consumers and markets in strategic and powerful ways that microsharing makes possible.
Individuals …build your network, access better professional relationships, faster knowledge-sharing and leveraged problem-solving. Microsharing is particularly valuable for Executives, sales and marketing professionals, consultants, freelancers and celebrities.
Anyone … develop dynamic and engaging “behind the scenes” personalities, content, sneak-previews and other genuinely engaging “teaser” content during the normal process of producing your product.
Presented by:
Laura “@Pistachio” Fitton is one of the first prominent “microbloggers,” with roughly 6,500 readers on Twitter. An early beta tester of Seesmic and Qik, she connects people to new ideas and innovations using all the tools of microsharing.
Her innovative use of social media has also gotten the attention of the top minds in technology, as profiled by Naked Conversations author Shel Israel for his Global Survey. Laura has also been quoted in The New York Times Magazine, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, The LA Times, Newsweek.com, Inc.com, CIO Magazine, CNET, ZDNet and many other magazines, publications, web shows and blogs. She speaks at technology conferences, private industry and guest lectures at Bentley College.
Laura is a magna cum laude graduate of Cornell University’s eclectic College Scholar program. In “past lives” she studied science writing with Carl Sagan, rock climbed, sailed on a schooner, raised a niece, ran a hobby farm, traveled and lived abroad.
Today she lives in Boston with two toddler daughters and a giant Leonberger. She practices Ashtanga yoga and plays ice hockey in her “spare” time, and is a stroke survivor dedicated to raising awareness.
Do you know where your social media payoffs are? Unfortunately, most organizations don’t.
Now that we’ve done a few years of toe-dipping and experimentation it’s time to treat social media like any other PR or marketing activity. Do the research, find the audience, figure out what their needs and wants are, what they’re interested in, what they want to hear, what’s motivating them, what they share.
In this unique and insightful webinar, you’ll learn simple and straightforward ways to monitor and mine social media intelligence to get you to your business goals. This session introduces the most popular social media intelligence tools and and offers step-by-step advice on how to put them to work. Data mining is the way to hit the jackpot.
What You Will Learn:
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Find the right conversations to listen to
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Dig into the data in those conversations and find insights
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Discover the communities and groups that talk about you
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Figure out your share of voice in a particular conversation
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Decide where to spend your time and resources
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Evaluate opportunities and threats
Who Should Purchase
This webinar is primarily aimed at those in the early stages of implementing or learning about social media, although it will also help more advanced practioners to focus their efforts. It is especially suitable for:
- Small and mid-sized business leaders
- Corporate executives who are new to social media
Presented by:
Sally Falkow is the co-developer of PRESSfeed, the social media newsroom. A veteran of the PR industry, Sally has translated her extensive experience in marketing, PR and communication to the Internet and her blog, Proactive Report, is a resource for PR professionals who want to learn about digital PR and social media. Her book, Mastering Social Media Strategy: a handbook for PR professionals will be available in May 2011. She is an adjunct professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC lecturing in Social Media Strategy, Content and Tools. Sally is also a Sr. Fellow with the Society for New Communication Research, a new media research think tank based in Palo Alto, CA.
How to wrap a blog into your overall content and communications strategy
Corporate blogging means the use of company-sponsored blogs as a way to connect with internal and external audiences. Interactive, instant, efficient, often revelatory, corporate blogs are no longer optional. With the total number of blogs surpassing 55 million, we’ve entered the era of Corporate Blogging 2.0. You need to know now how can you can use this new communications channel. Organizations as various as Dell, General Motors and McDonald’s are using blogs to spread their message, learn from stakeholders and create a body of knowledge encapsulated in a digital trail.
What You Will Learn:
- Who should write your blog and what the topic should be
- Case studies on what works – and what doesn’t in a corporate blog
- Blogging guidelines and other nuts & bolts of managing an internal or external corporate blog
- How to measure results
- How to assess whether your organization is blog-ready
Presented by:
Debbie Weil is a corporate and CEO blogging consultant and author of The Corporate Blogging Book (Penguin Portfolio 2006). She also writes BlogWriteForCEOs, considered one of the most influential blogs about business blogging.
As a consultant, she shows the big dogs how to use blogs as a next-generation marketing and communications strategy. She invites you to download Chapter 1 of her new book for a meaty introduction to the topic of CEO and corporate blogging.
Debbie has a unique background as a veteran journalist with an MBA and corporate marketing experience. She has worked as an Internet marketing consultant with startups as well as Fortune 500 companies (including HP and Wells Fargo) for over a decade.
She’s the publisher of award-winning WordBiz Report, an e-newsletter read by nearly 20,000 subscribers in 87 countries.
She has been quoted on the topic of corporate and CEO blogging in Fortune, the New York Times, BusinessWeek.com, the Washington Post and numerous other publications.
A graduate of Harvard with a degree in English, she has an MBA from Georgetown University and a Masters in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin. She is based in Washington DC.
http://www.debbieweil.com
http://www.BlogWriteForCEOs.com
http://www.TheCorporateBloggingBook.com
Sometimes it’s good to step back and have someone help you re-think your strategy.
That’s why we asked Christopher Barger, author of the new book, Social Media Strategist, to peel back the social media strategy onion. He has labored in the social media trenches at two big corporations (IBM and GM). He knows the potholes to avoid and the things you can’t skip over.
In this special webinar he will be sharing the critical questions, decisions and maneuvers you must choreograph to bring true business value to your social media efforts.
Don’t miss this no-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase learning event, and if possible, attend with your entire team.
What You Will Learn:
- Who should own social media
- What internal potholes keep most social media efforts from truly taking off
- What departments and roles are critical to create a social marketing power team
- What are are the seven elements to a winning social media program for corporations and organizations
- Why organizations need to become content publishers to succeed in social media, and what that means
- How can a big company work effectively with bloggers to get social media results
- How to build a fire-proof social media crisis team and process
- How to create well-defined metrics and use the right tools to measure them
Presented by:
Christopher Barger is senior vice president of global programs at Voce Connect. He works with clients around the world to develop and execute social media strategies. Before joining Voce, he built and led GM’s social media program from 2007-2011 where he learned not only about how to build a corporate social program but about managing crises online. Before GM, he was IBM’s first “Blogger-in-Chief” for two years. His book, “The Social Media Strategist,” (McGraw-Hill, fall 2011) focuses on the unique challenges of building a social media program at a large brand or organization. Barger writes “The Social Media Report” for Forbes.com, where he covers the challenges companies are facing as they navigate the social web, trends and emerging technologies as they affect businesses and big brands, and how implementing social web tactics as part of your overall strategy can supplement and enhance your communications and marketing efforts.
A new generation of online tools can amplify the voice of business leaders and individuals and turn them into thought leaders with amazing speed.
Blogs, podcasts, digital video and social networks enable business people to bypass expensive advertising and media gatekeepers and take their messages directly to their stakeholders.
With expertise, dedication and savvy use of search engines and syndication, you can now reach a targeted audience with minimal cost and waste.
This webinar introduces the most popular social media concepts and provides step-by-step advice on how to put them to work.
What You Will Learn:
- How to choose from among more than a dozen social media options to fit the tools to your strategy
- Secrets of gaining traffic, search-engine visibility and business
- Why search engines love blogs
- How to use syndication to turbo-charge readership and awareness
- Debunking myths about ROI
- Matching social media to business strategy
- Packaging content for maximum visibility and search engine impact
- Read Q&A with Paul Gillin on social media marketing and becoming an influencer.
- Read excerpts from Secrets of Social Media Marketing
Presented by:
Paul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist with more than 24 years of editorial leadership. Paul was founding editor-in-chief of TechTarget, one of the most successful new media entities to emerge on the Internet. Previously, he was editor-in-chief and executive editor of Computerworld. Currently, he writes the social media column for BtoB magazine. His critically acclaimed new book, The New Influencers, is about the changes in markets being driven by the new breed of online publishers. Published by Quill Driver Books in spring, 2007, it is in its third printing. His second book, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, will be published in the fall of 2008.
Paul specializes in advising business-to-business marketers on strategies to optimize their use of online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is particularly interested in social media and the application of personal publishing to brand awareness and business marketing.
Paul is an accomplished speaker and media spokesman. He has keynoted more than a dozen technology conferences, including annual user group meetings for IBM, Oracle, Cognos, Business Objects and J.D. Edwards. He has also spoken at scores of other events about technology trends and social media.
His ability to translate complex technology topics into plain English has made him a favorite source for journalists. He has been widely quoted in newspapers and on the airwaves, including appearances on CNN, PBS, Fox News and MSNBC.
Paul is a research fellow at the Society for New Communications Research and he chairs the social media cluster of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. He blogs at http://www.paulgillin.com.
Simplify Your Social Media Strategies and Relations (and now….Breathe)
Q: What if you had five simple principles you could apply to all your social media initiatives instead of chasing after all those “best practices” and the coolest, newest tools, and then trying to mash them up to meet your specific situation?
A: You could confidently face your social media planning, campaigns or learning without panic, feeling overwhelmed or behind the curve.
Linda will simplify your life and arm you with just five principles that you can apply as “universal truths” in implementing social media. These five principles can act as your “check list” and be your guide whether you are trying to learn about social media, are embarking on engaging in social media relations or are building out a social media strategy. We aren’t saying you won’t have work to do afterwards, but it will be clearer what social media work is the right work.
If you ever asked yourself “how to I get started in social media?” “what social media tools should we be using?” “how do I keep up on it all?” or “how do I stop all the social media noise in my head?” purchase this webinar replay and start simplifying your life – really.
Replay
What You Will Learn:
- The difference between social media “best practices” and “best principles.”
- Why relying on best principles is better than continually searching for best practices.
- The five principles anyone can apply to be effective in doing social media relations, creating a social media strategy or learning about social media
- What is truly necessary to focus on to be successful in social media.
- Learn about at least ten resources that will simplify your social media life or learning.
- How to decide on the best social media tools to use.
- How to bring your newsroom into the social media century.
- At least one way to convince your boss on the value of using social media.
- Why you need a Creative Commons copyright license.
- How to limit the “social media” noise that can confuse you and your efforts and help you stay focused on what’s really important.
Presented by:
Linda Zimmer is a digital media consultant and modern marketing strategist, serving an international clientele. She specializes in assisting organizations in benefiting from, managing and innovating with new media for marketing, communications and internal and external collaboration.
Linda is CEO of Marcom:Interactive, sits on the Advisory Board of Web Wise Kids, and is a consulting council analyst for the Gerson Lehrman Group. She is founder of the Modern Media Institute, a professional development institute for new media practices (launching September 2008) and she regularly trains public agencies for the State of California. She currently is an advisory board member for the Extension University at California State University, Fullerton on developing Web 2.0 curriculum.
Ms. Zimmer has more than 25 years of experience in applying emerging media to organizational issues. During her career she has provided digital services to many of the Fortune 100/500 companies and Internet startups; the FDA, U.S. Forestry Services, and U.S. cities and counties; non-profits of all sizes; colleges and universities, and entertainment properties. Linda serves as a resource to the news media and she publishes extensively on the Web. (http://freshtakes.typepad.com)
Stop repeating these 10 proven mistakes when dealing with the media and managing your media relations program!
Ever since outlaw Jesse James wrote and issued the first news release, media relations practitioners have steadfastly refused to learn from the mistakes of their forebears.In James’s case, he didn’t take into account the suspicious and questioning nature of the reading populace, who viewed his bombastic news releases as early American “spin control.”
Learning Topics
Underestimating the intelligence of your audience is just one of the 10 major mistakes covered in this session. Others include:
- Not being a student of the media, keeping up with their changes needs and trends
- Confusing media output numbers with bottom-line outcome measures
- Annoying editors with misdirected and/or badly-prepared materials
- Not routinely evaluating your media relations programs and management
- Trying to substitute media relations for communication
Wilma answers real-world questions on:
- Holding the media accountable and keeping them from allowing bias or half-truths from creeping into news coverage, so that what is reported is straight, honest and fair
- How recent college graduates — with no contacts — can build relationships with the media
- The most effective ways to pitch
- Dealing with a less-than-objective journalist
- The best way to get to know a editor, writer or reporter
- The most important and effective tools in media relations
- The best day/time to pitch stories
- The least offensive way to bring a reporter’s error to his or her attention – and how to ask for a correction
- Pushing the envelope: How persistent you should be in making your pitch
- Teaching senior management the difference between a subjective, self-serving news item and a legitimate, content-rich press release
- Measures practitioners should routinely implement to measure results on the fly – especially during a crisis
- The biggest changes in media relations over the past 10 years
Presented by:
Wilma Mathews, ABC and IABC Fellow, works for Arizona State University as director of constituent relations. She also conducts media relations seminars, provides media training for corporate executives and is co-author of On Deadline: Managing Media Relations (4th edition, Spring 2006). Her background includes corporate communications and international public relations for AT&T/Lucent; nonprofit communication for two chambers of commerce and a medical center; and writing/editing for a newspaper and magazine. A national and international speaker, Wilma also contributes articles to trade publications and lectures on PR and media relations at ASU.
Surprisingly, there is no defined background or career path for those who aspire to the position of global corporate brand manager. Public relations and corporate communications practitioners often believe they have the right to be the strongest voice in determining the brand. After all,among the responsibilities of the most senior public relations (PR) executive is that of promoting and protecting the reputation of the corporation.
But at a time when global brands are valued in the billions, there is a dearth of good practical advice on what business professionals from many areas could and should be doing to build and protect their organization’s brand. And everyone from designers to lawyers to marketers to advertisers and even HR professionals can and should be playing a role. Nothing is more important than living the brand.
This webinar offers a chance to hear Michael Morley discuss themes from his new book, The Global Corporate Brand Book. He will show how corporate brand value can be measured in finite terms and encourages PR people to aspire to the role of corporate brand managers. This way their own work’s importance will be recognized and funded. But before this can be achieved, they will need to widen their knowledge beyond traditional PR techniques.
What You Will Learn:
- The six critical elements of a global corporate brand
- Case histories of successful global corporate brands
- The role of corporate communications in corporate brand building
“Presenter was extremely knowledgeable, presented well and used some excellent examples. He dug far deeper into branding and reputation management than I have ever seen or heard. His laying out of the six Vs was creative, sensitive and well done.”
Presented by:
Michael Morley is president of Morley Corporate Consulting, a firm of management consultants in corporate reputation and branding. For nearly 40 years Morley worked at Edelman helping establish it as the world’s largest independent PR agency. He founded the agency’s first overseas office, in London in 1967. He went on to be named President of Edelman International Corporation and established other Edelman offices in Europe, Canada , Asia Pacific and Latin America . Since 1984 he has been based in New York.
Morley has managed multi-national PR programs for companies that include UPS, AMADEUS Global Travel Distribution, NCR, VISA International, British Airways, Ernst & Young, Hoffmann-La Roche, Schering Plough, Procter & Gamble , S.C. Johnson and Hertz Corporation. From 1995 to 1998 Morley was President of Edelman New York and from 1998-2001 was Deputy Chairman and President of International Operations. He served as Deputy Chairman of Daniel J. Edelman Inc until his retirement in 2006.
He is also Chair of the Senior Advisory Board Experts (SAGEs) of the Echo Research Group and adjunct professor teaching in the Master of Science in PR and Corporate Communications program at New York University.
Before joining Edelman, Morley had served as an officer in the Royal Artillery and after a period in journalism had been a director of another British PR firm for seven years. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, lectures extensively on PR, holds the CAM Diploma and in 1981 was elected to a Fellowship in the organization that is responsible for P.R. education and examinations in Britain . He served as Chairman of the jury of the IPRA Golden World Awards from 1999-2002. In June 2003 Morley was awarded the Alan Campbell-Johnson Medal for distinguished service to International Public Relations by The Institute of Public Relations. Later the same year he was one of the first six PR leaders named to the ICCO Hall of Fame.
Brand champions are internal and external story tellers who spread the brand vision, brand values and cultivate the brand in an organization. Every organization needs committed and passionate brand champions. Be it your employees, investors, customers, or other key influencers, true advocates for your brand affect the corporate bottom-line and are critical to maintaining strong brand equity.
What You Will Learn:
- Why does branding matter, and how does it translate to profitability?
- What are the world’s most powerful brands, and what are they doing consistently right
- Does your brand really speak to all stakeholders? How is stakeholder value measured and valued?
- What are the best practices for building powerful brands?
What Do Your Customers Think About Your Company? (And Are They Right?)
A company’s image is perhaps its most powerful marketing asset. On the cutting edge of corporate strategy, image is essential for positioning a company for maximum growth. When finely honed and used correctly, corporate “image” can influence consumer choices, build brands, pre-sell products and services, and add value to a company in the minds of its public.
Case studies and best-practice examples: Jim Gregory, noted brand expert, will moderate this discussion and delve into Dell Computer and JetBlue Airways corporate case studies that will look at different stakeholders and how they can positively affect your brand.
Presented by:
Jim Gregory is founder and CEO of CoreBrand, a global brand strategy and communications firm based in Stamford, Connecticut with offices in New York, New York and Tokyo, Japan.
With 30 years of experience in advertising and branding, Jim is a leading expert on brand management and credited with developing pioneering and innovative tools for measuring the power of brands and their impact on a corporation’s financial performance.
Among the tools Jim has developed is the Corporate Branding Index® (CBI) – a research vehicle that has continuously tracked the reputation and financial performance of over 1200 publicly traded companies in 47 industries since 1990. CoreBrand uses the CBI to help clients understand how their brand compares with industry peers and determine how communications can impact corporate reputation and financial performance – including stock price and revenue growth.
Jim is a brand council member for both Bristol-Myers Squibb and New York Stock Exchange. He is a frequent speaker on the financial benefits of advertising and brand management for The Wall Street Journal as well as BusinessWeek.
Jim has written four books on creating value with brands, Marketing Corporate Image, Leveraging the Corporate Brand, Branding Across Borders and The Best of Branding. His latest white paper, Driving Brand Equity and Accountability, was sponsored by Barron’s and published by the Association of National Advertisers. Jim may be reached directly at 203.564.2439 or by email.
Bob Pearson serves as vice president of communities and conversations for Dell. As a member of Dell’s Communications team, he is responsible for digital media activities, ranging from customer resolution to management of IdeaStorm, Direct2Dell, StudioDell and other digital initiatives. His teams are also responsible for corporate media, public affairs, internal communications and the Office of the Chairman communications.
Before joining Dell, Mr. Pearson worked for Novartis Pharmaceuticals as Head of Global Corporate Communications and as Head of Global Pharma Communications, where he served on the Pharma Executive Committee. Prior to Novartis, Bob was President of The Americas for GCI and was responsible for creating and building the firm’s global healthcare practice. He was previously Vice President of Global Public Affairs & Media Relations at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (now Sanofi Aventis) and worked at CIBA-Geigy in both communications and field sales. He has more than 20 years experience in executive corporate communications and public relations.
As Brand Manager for JetBlue Airways Kim Ruvolo manages both internal and external brand strategy, including all brand communications, product and brand building, customer and crewmember experience, and delivering JetBlue’s brand promise to “Bring Humanity Back to Air Travel”. Her recent projects include the internal launch of Happy Jetting, JetBlue’s most recent advertising campaign; creating and re-focusing ShopBlue—JetBlue’s online retail store; reevaluating and redesigning the current uniform program; and executing JetBlue’s industry-leading Customer Bill of Rights.
Prior to being employed at JetBlue, Kim worked at Denver-based Frontier Airlines for five years where she spent most of her time re-branding the airline—a project that increased Frontier’s brand awareness from 47 to 89 percent in the Denver area. Kim attributes her knowledge of good customer service and understanding of airline operations to her first-years in the airline industry as a reservations agent.
Proving the value of public relations continues to be one of the profession’s most vexing challenges. Mark Weiner, CEO of PRIME Research in North America, and John Gilfeather, President of the Marketing Research Council, share their experiences in helping some of the world’s most admired companies and brands, including Procter & Gamble, ATT, GE and more. In addition, the two provide the tools you can use now to demonstrate and generate a positive return on your PR.
What You Will Learn:
- Three keys to optimizing objectives-setting
- How to conduct an “Executive Audit,” a proven approach to uncovering the often secret PR value system within your own organization
- How to establish credible measurement systems for reputation and other key outcomes
- The three established criteria for generating a positive return on your investment in PR with case studies from GE, Miller Brewing and TXU
Additional questions that will be answered:
- What is a reasonable budget to conduct a credible measurement program?
- What is the risk-free approach to setting objectives?
- How do I minimize the risk of evaluating our PR?
- What can I do now to begin generating a positive return on investment?
Presented by:
Mark Weiner is the CEO of PRIME Research in North America. PRIME Research is one of the world’s largest public relations and corporate communications research and consulting providers with offices in Western Europe, North and South America, Eastern Europe and the Far East. Since 1993, Mark has devoted his career to helping many of the world’s most respected organizations and brands to demonstrate and generate a positive return on their investment in corporate and brand communications. He is the author of “Unleashing the Power of PR: A Contrarian’s Guide to Marketing and Communication” published by John Wiley & Sons.
Prior to PRIME, Mark Weiner was the Global Director and Senior Vice President of Ketchum Research where he led an international team of analysts. Prior to joining Ketchum, Weiner was the CEO and president of Delahaye, a global public relations research and consulting firm.
Weiner is a member of the PRSA, IABC and the Institute for Public Relations for whom he served as Trustee and Chairman of the Research and Measurement Commission. He is an editorial advisory board member of PRSA’s Strategist and PR News. A frequent provider of provocative public relations content, Weiner is a recurring conference speaker at international and domestic events, and a prolific author, having published more than one hundred articles.
John Gilfeather is an expert in corporate reputation measurement, public affairs research and B2B marketing. He was Managing Partner at Yankelovich and was responsible for all the custom research of the firm. After 30 years at Yankelovich, he joined Roper Starch Worldwide where he was Vice Chairman and head of Roper Public Affairs and Media. For the past 2+ years, he was Executive Vice President in charge of Stakeholder Management research for TNS in the North America.
Mr. Gilfeather conducted groundbreaking research in corporate reputation for Time Magazine on the 1970s, for Brouillard Communications in the 1980’s and for Fortune Magazine in the 1990s. In the current decade, he created the Roper Corporate Reputation Scorecard and the TNS Corporate Social Responsibility Report Card. He is a frequent speaker on reputation matters for the PR Leadership Forum, the CCI Leaders Forum, PR News seminars, the Fortune Corporate Marketing Forum and the Fortune Global Marketing Forum.
Mr. Gilfeather is a Past Chair of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) and served on it Board for nine years. He is a founding member of the Institute for Public Relations’ Commission on Measurement and Evaluation. Currently, he is President of the Marketing Research Council.
Communicators have been using PR to deliver value for decades. What’s new is that a handful of leading professionals are now scientifically proving how they are generating measurable benefits from the public relations activities. The progress that this change represents is significant: rather than relying on subjective perceptions of what represents value, they are applying the concept of “return on investment” (ROI) and objectively measuring the economic benefits of public relations activity against its associated costs. In this perspective-packed web conference, Mark Weiner offers a research-based model for creating and implementing public relations programs that will generate meaningful results and improve an organization’s ROI. You will also learn how to speak to senior executives in a way that will improve communications and ultimately help strengthen PR performance and results.
What You Will Learn:
- The Difference between “proving value” and “delivering a return-on-investment.”
- The three elements of PR-ROI
- What some of the world’s greatest organizations are doing to prove and improve their PR-ROI (and how they do it)…including branded case studies
- How you can take your PR programs to the next level in clearly demonstrating ROI
- What’s required to go beyond “ROI
Real-world questions that will be answered:
- How do I prove the value of my PR?
- What is the difference between “proving value” and “delivering ROI?”
- How do I connect our PR to meaningful business outcomes and Return-on-Investment?
- What are the three forms of PR-ROI?
- What are companies doing now to deliver and improve their ROI?
- How do I get started?
Presented by:
Mark Weiner is the author of “Unleashing the Power of PR: A Contrarian’s Guide to Marketing and Communication,” published by John Wiley & Sons. Throughout his career, Mark has focused on providing research-based consulting to help clients improve their PR-ROI. Most recently, Mark was the SVP/Global Director of Research at Ketchum after having been president and CEO of Delahaye, the preeminent provider of research solutions for public relations and corporate communications professionals. Mark is a frequent speaker at conferences including those produced by The Conference Board, The American Marketing Association, The PRSA, The IABC and Bulldog Reporter, and he frequently contributes to publications such as Communication World, PR Week and The Daily ‘Dog and has appeared on PBS and CNBC. He is on the editorial advisory boards of PR News and PRSA’s The Strategist, and is an active member of the Institute for Public Relations, for whom he chaired the Measurement Commission in 2004.
Can you prove the value of your communication, marketing and PR programs? It’s a simple question, and your bosses rightfully expect concrete answers. How you respond affects the objectives you set, the programs you embark on and ultimately your career success.
Join “Unleashing the Power of PR” author and PRIME Research CEO, Mark Weiner, and SVP of BurrellesLuce, Johna Burke, as they walk you through the current communication measurement landscape in a way that makes new sense. Moderated by award winning journalist, communicator and president of Communitelligence, John Gerstner, Mark and Johna will answer — and sometimes debate — the most important and challenging questions every communication professional needs to know to prove the value of their internal and external communication programs.
This won’t just be a 5,000-foot fly-by of the topic. You’ll gain practical takeaways and actionable advice. Don’t miss this special webinar designed to amp up your skills in measuring PR programs and proving your worth. Did we mention this stuff is critical to your career?
Audio Excerpt
Some of the questions that will be answered:
- What kind of metrics should PR people be measuring?
- Why are clear, concise terminology and metrics so important when executing a public relations research and evaluation system?
- How can research be used to set better objectives
- What are the Barcelona Principles and what do they mean to me?
- How does research and measurement help to guide business decision-making?
- How can research and be used to avoid catastrophe?
- How do you foster a culture for communications research within the team? Among executive leadership?
- How do conduct research and measurement with little or no budget?
- What’s the difference between qualitative and quantitative research? How do you know which to use and when?
- What’s critical to know about measuring social media programs?
Presented by:
Mark Weiner is the CEO of PRIME Research in North America. PRIME Research is one of the world’s largest public relations and corporate communications research and consulting providers with offices in Western Europe, North and South America, Eastern Europe and the Far East. Since 1993, Mark has devoted his career to helping many of the world’s most respected organizations and brands to demonstrate and generate a positive return on their investment in corporate and brand communications. He is the author of “Unleashing the Power of PR: A Contrarian’s Guide to Marketing and Communication” published by John Wiley & Sons. Weiner is a member of the PRSA, IABC and the Institute for Public Relations for whom he served as Trustee and Chairman of the Research and Measurement Commission. He is an editorial advisory board member of PRSA’s Strategist and PR News. A frequent provider of provocative public relations content, Weiner is a recurring conference speaker at international and domestic events, and a prolific author, having published more than one hundred articles.
Johna Burke has 23 years experience working both as a public relations practitioner and a provider of services that are vital to the successful performance of communications professionals. For 11 years, starting in 1989, she was associated with U-Haul International, ultimately becoming head of public and investor relations. Ms. Burke joined BurrellesLuce, in its Phoenix office, in 2000. She served as West Coast regional vice president, a corporate vice president in 2008 and October 2009, was appointed senior vice president-marketing. Ms. Burke is a highly rated speaker who is often invited to talk about best practices in media relations and monitoring, including the measurement of PR effectiveness; her written views have appeared in a variety of PR industry outlets and she is a regular contributor to Fresh Ideas, the incisive blog produced by BurrellesLuce. Ms. Burke is immediate past chair of the Southern Region of the International Association of Business Communicators and current chair of its Nominations Committee.
Can you speak the language of management? If not, here’s what you’re missing:
· The ability to add value in financial discussions with your boss and other top managers
· The skills needed to get your latest brainstorms adopted by key financial decision makers
· A plethora of financial tools that can help you make better business decisions
· An understanding of how your company’s financial performance affects its most critical asset: the workforce
In just 90 minutes, you’ll gain a new skill set¾and a potential ticket to the management table
Before you take a seat at the management table, you’d better have a solid understanding of key financial terms and accounting concepts. If not, you won’t be able to converse with those seated around you, because finance is the only language they speak.
Overcome the financial language barrier — for good — by attending this audio seminar. Using an easy-to-follow format, James Cole will demystify financial terminology, translate the accounting jargon and illustrate how communicators use financial information to increase their effectiveness.
Don’t miss this vital training event, designed to give you the skills and knowledge you need for holding your own with those who hold the company’s purse strings.
Key learning objectives:
· What’s at stake: Why every communicator should have a solid understanding of finance
· How a balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement are used to analyze a company’s performance
· What management accounting tools CEOs use to monitor a company’s fiscal health, including EBITDA and pro-forma earnings
· How to cut through the jargon to translate complex financial data into meaningful and useful concepts
· Which financial terms are “must haves” for boosting your business vocabulary, including expenses, assets, capitalization, cash, accrual transactions and many more!
Audio Seminar Bonus: Understand the basics of financial decision-making
James answers real-life questions on:
- What communicators can do to help their organization’s employees better understand how their business works, with the objective of improving performance
- Tips to better communicate financial concepts to a lay audience
- Learning from the mistakes made by Enron
- The best tools to measure financial performance
Your audio seminar leader
James Cole is director of development for the Masonic Home of Virginia. His 25 years of professional experience include roles as auditor, founder, officer and consultant with numerous organizations throughout the U.S. He regularly speaks on such topics as financial reporting, taxes, accounting, fundraising and board development. He was a featured speaker at IABC’s 2005 International Conference in Washington, D.C., and Financial Communication Conference in New York.
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On the surface, it would seem social media is at odds with investor relations. The new media channels — Twitter, blogs, podcasts, social networks, company websites etc. — are all about conversation, informality and transparency. Investor Relations has by necessity always been necessarily buttoned down. After all, employees can go to jail for violating SEC fair disclosure rules.
Still, if investor relations is charged with enabling the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a company’s securities achieving fair valuation, why should social media tools not be used? In this webinar, our experts will talk about the opportunities and risks associated with using company websites, blogs and social media to supplement traditional channels to acheive broad, simultaneous and fair disclosure. They will also talk about how to approach and practice the delicate balancing act of using social media channels for communicate financial performance, without getting into disclosure hot water.
What You Will Learn:
- What the US SEC’s public disclosure requirements are.
- How some IR professionals are creatively pushing the envelope on using social media in investor relations
- Do’s and Don’ts when integrating social media into your IR program
- How to not violate any disclosure rules
- How to calculate the ROI of using social media for investor relations
- What is the social media news release and should every news release be social?
Presented by:
Richard Brewer-Hay is Senior Manager, Corporate Communications at eBay.Richard has more than a decade of communications, marketing and production experience. In January, 2008, he joined eBay as Chief Blogger to direct its social media initiatives and launch “eBay Ink” (http://ebayinkblog.com), where he captures and shares his insights and perspective on the company and provides another conduit for corporate communications.Richard launched the ebayinkblog Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/ebayinkblog) in June, 2008 that allowed eBay to become the first Fortune 500 company to live-blog financial announcements and earnings’ calls via Twitter. In March, 2009 Richard introduced the first social media guidelines for corporate disclosure for both blogging and micro-blogging. Prior to joining eBay, Richard was with PodShow (now Mevio), a new media network where he oversaw the company’s programming lineup for two years. As Sr. Director of Talent and Marketing for PodShow, Richard grew the signed talent pool from 25 to over 250 contracted individual video and audio show producers, and contributed to network growth from 25 to over 16,000 shows before his departure in December, 2007.
Robert (Rob L.) Williams II serves as director, Investor Relations for Dell Inc. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the investor relations function and executing Dell’s global investor communications program in conjunction with the chief financial officer and senior management. Dell’s Investor Relations is involved in global industry conferences, a large-scale analyst conference, on-site investor visits, quarterly earnings, the annual shareholders’ meeting, strategic research projects and a broad competitive analysis function. Mr. Williams also provides guidance regarding Dell’s operating results and business strategies to global institutional investors and sell-side securities analysts. Mr. Williams is a 17-year Dell veteran and has served as director of investor relations for the past seven years. Prior to joining investor relations in 1995, Mr. Williams held positions in corporate treasury, finance and marketing at Dell. He serves as president of the Austin-San Antonio chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute and is an active national speaker on topics ranging from strategic impact of investor relations to social media. Mr. Williams received a bachelor’s of business administration degree in management from the University of Texas and a master’s of science degree in finance from Texas A&M University. He serves on the board of the Austin Children’s Museum, where he is a member of the executive committee.
Serena Ehrlich recently started her own consulting firm focusing on social media strategies and implementation for public and private companies. During her years at Business Wire, Serena worked closely with public and private companies providing guidance on investor relations and public relations trends, marketing, product development, social media, SOX trends, XBRL and trade show services. In addition, she worked with some of the largest companies in North America, including ExxonMobil, Walt Disney, Mattel, Textron and more. In her spare time Serena serves as chairman of the interim social media club (www.socialmediaclub.org ) board of directors as well as a senior advisor for the international YoungPrPros (www.youngprpros.com) and is a 8 year board member for NIRI – first in Dallas and later in Los Angeles.
- “The webinar was great today … helpful and insightful.”
- “Both presenters gave real-world examples. Much better then other Webinars I’ve attended where it’s just a vendor trying to sell you a product.”