Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
As we look back on another year there are numerous successes, big and small, to celebrate.
2015 has been a year of growth for Communiqué PR! We settled into our new, larger office space, added several new clients to our portfolio as well as a few new PR professionals to our stellar team.
We saw the culmination of our work result in successful exits for three clients: Mobidia was acquired by AppAnnie, VoloMetrix was acquired by Microsoft, and Attachmate finalized its acquisition by Micro Focus.
Our work drove awareness and demand for several clients’ products, including:
- Delta-Q, a leading supplier of battery charging solutions, which announced its expanded IC Series product line.
- Darigold, which announced its new white cheddar cheese. If you have not tried it, we really encourage you to sample it this holiday season.
- Revel Systems, a leading iPad point-of-sale platform, announcement that it secured $100 million Series C funding as well as partnerships with Intuit and Apple. CEO Lisa Falzone made the list of Forbes’ Eight Rising Stars, the Fortune 40 Under 40 and was a featured speaker at influential industry conferences including Collision and Fortune Brainstorm Tech. In Q3 2015 alone, the Communiqué PR team secured over 96 original articles on behalf of Revel.
- Works Applications, an ERP solution provider, announced its plans to enter the U.S. market with AI Works. In addition to conducting proactive media outreach around this news we enjoyed supporting the WAP team and building new media relationships at HR Tech in Las Vegas.
- A “New Clothing Line for ‘Tech Guys,’ Ya Joe, Selects Communiqué as Its Agency of Record” and had a stellar launch with coverage secured in TechCrunch, CIO, The Seattle Times, GeekWire and Network World.
- We drove significant awareness for Spaceflight, which contributed to CEO Jason Andrews recently being named one of the Newsmakers of the Year by GeekWire. The company announced funding in March 2015 (Seattle’s Spaceflight Industries Raises $20 Million to Accelerate Growth) and announced the purchase of a rocket in September 2015 (Spaceflight purchases SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket).
- Summit Imaging was named the #1 midsize company to work for in Seattle Business Magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For 2015” list. In addition, Summit Imaging launched a new mobile app and began offering support services for portable ultrasound medical equipment. Finally, the company achieved ISO certifications 13485:2003 and 9001:2008, highlighting the company’s commitment to assuring its customers receive the finest in quality and support for their ultrasound repair needs.
In addition to providing excellent results for our clients, our team continues to be a resource for marketing and PR professionals and students through our book and agency blog. Our book, “Strategic Public Relations: 10 Principles to Harness the Power of PR,” is being used as a text in university courses at Xavier University, University of Wisconsin-Madison (School of Journalism and Mass Communication), Liberty University, and the University of New York in Prague.
We also continued to have several of our blog posts syndicated by industry media outlets, including PRDaily, which published the following articles from Communiqué PR team members during the year:
- 3 PR lessons from the Seattle Seahawks’ Marshawn Lynch
- 3 ways to supplement your ‘slow PR’ strategy
- Newsjacking for dummies
- 5 pointers for effective phone pitches
- A 5-step process to guarantee a rock-solid media list
- Should you be pitching to algorithms rather than humans?
- 5 ways to make your contributed content sing
- 5 techniques for boosting PR creativity
- Tips for writing long-form posts on LinkedIn
- How technology’s ‘Hummingbird Effect’ evolves PR strategies
Ensuring a positive workplace environment is always a priority and this year Communiqué PR was named one of Washington’s Best Places to Work in 2015 by Seattle Business Magazine. We are particularly proud of this award, as it is based on survey responses provided by our team. We also took time out during the year to celebrate our successes with several fun outings, barbeques in our courtyard and our annual holiday party!
As the year ends, we remain grateful for our close relationships with one another, our clients, and the many journalists and analysts with whom we work. We are fortunate to have long-standing relationships with people around the world and look forward to expanding our network and opportunities for our clients in the coming year.
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Wonderful 2016!
PR is all-too often defined by the almighty press release. Without hard news, many companies make the mistake of going dark and waiting until their next big announcement, not wanting to “bother” busy reporters or reprioritizing efforts away from PR until there’s a reason to pay attention to it again.
A successful PR program needs constant attention and creative input; it cannot be driven by news announcements alone. PR’s value comes from maintaining a steady, consistent flow of activity and coverage, which requires creativity, tenacity, resourcefulness and, above all, proactivity. PR professionals need to think of press releases as just one tool in their arsenal to help build awareness and mindshare for our clients.
For our client Flowroute, which describes itself as a “software company that happens to be a carrier,” the team took a multi-faceted approach to ensure that Flowroute was being consistently being seen by the right journalists, analysts, and influencers. Below is a summary of the results we’ve been able to secure for Flowroute over the past four months, and suggestions for ways you can keep your clients top of mind, without relying too heavily on press releases.
Identify the influencers: Industry analysts can be an important ally in your communications efforts. They have the ability to influence potential customers, offer third-party support to add credibility to news stories, and raise awareness around new product categories. Stay up to date on breaking news impacting your client’s space and pay attention to which analysts are being quoted by reporters. These are the people those journalists turn to for perspective on trends and breaking news – they should be on your radar! To date, we’ve secured briefings for Flowroute with several analysts from Current Analysis, Forrester, IDC, Infonetics, Nemertes Research, and Ovum.
Be flexible in your “ask” to reporters: Typically, we pitch reporters in the attempt to secure initial interviews/briefings for our clients. The reporters, in turn, write stories based on those interviews and (hopefully!) include our client in the final story. But be mindful when reaching out that not all pitches have to result in a briefing. Reporters are busier than ever, often being tasked to write multiple stories a day under very tight deadlines. They simply don’t have time to speak with everyone. For Flowroute, we sent out a proactive pitch to a select group of journalists, and offered either a briefing with an executive, or a contributed article/byline. This approach resulted in our securing a byline for Flowroute co-founder and CPO Sean Hsieh in RCR Wireless’ Reality Check column (“Busting myths and misconceptions about SIP trunking security”).
Read. Read. Then read some more. Keeping the drumbeat going requires you to be aware of the other instruments being played – that means paying attention to what competitors, partners, analysts, and your client are saying on a daily basis. That means regularly checking Twitter and other social feeds as well as HARO queries that come in daily. This allows you to offer your client as a source when news breaks, or when a trend is just starting to gain momentum. For Flowroute, our team keeps a close eye on their blog for potential story ideas – in one case, we developed a proactive pitch based on a post that CMO Dan Nordale wrote about the a new model emerging in telecom that Flowroute is calling “Be Your Own Carrier.” It resulted in our securing an introductory briefing with SD Times, one of the major publications aimed at software developers. Leveraging existing content like blog posts, white papers, case studies, and other materials can help secure media interest and coverage without depending on hard news or press releases.
I hope that our success to date with Flowroute can offer some new ideas for keeping momentum going, even when there’s not a huge news pipeline. Press releases on their own don’t guarantee coverage or media interest, but rather it’s the cumulative mix of proactive and news-driven outreach that keeps the steady drumbeat going for our clients. Let us know if there are ways you’ve helped keep a client’s visibility up outside of press releases – we’d love to hear from you!
I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for pretty much anything Adele does. So when Inc. Magazine recently ran a column about “6 Great Business Lessons from Adele’s Branding Strategy,” you know I was all over it.
I’d like to think that almost everyone can learn something from Adele and that includes PR and communications professionals. Since we only have a few short weeks left in 2015, its time to offer a few PR resolutions to consider in the year ahead, inspired by one of the biggest newsmakers in music this year.
Stay authentic: Adele doesn’t try to be something she’s not. Neither should you. Your clients, teams and media contacts expect you to be a trusted advisor, not just to agree with whatever they say. Trust your gut and don’t be afraid to take a stand on a creative pitch idea, press release direction, or infographic content that you feel strongly about. That said, your opinion should always be well-informed, grounded in facts and coming from a position of intellect rather than emotion or quick reaction. Do your research, be able to defend your stance and be flexible to compromise if necessary.
Look to the past, but don’t linger there. Adele isn’t afraid to review her past (ahem, obviously), but she moves on. It happens to the best of us – sometimes a pitch or press release just falls flat. Like any setback, it’s okay to be frustrated, but the key is to get back up and learn from what happened. Take time to talk openly with your teams and your client to evaluate campaigns or pitches that worked, as well as those that didn’t, so that you can learn from them and adapt your strategies accordingly next time. Quarterly or annual reviews are the obvious time for program evaluation, but don’t limit those conversations to just a few times a year; it must be an ongoing conversation.
Don’t call (reporters) a thousand times. In “Hello,” Adele notes that “I must have called a thousand times….but when I call you never seem to be home.” It can feel that way some days for PR professionals when it comes to media outreach. If you’re being met with radio silence on a pitch, there has to be a reason for it. This is one of the most basic – but critical – parts of PR: pay attention to what reporters cover, do your research each and every time you reach out to them, and tailor your outreach accordingly. This includes knowing how they like to be contacted (email versus texts or Twitter DMs, for example), and what they’ve written about recently. Tenacity is important in order to break through reporter’s flooded inboxes, but so is respect and knowing when to move on to a new outlet or take a new angle/approach.
Be thoughtful – and even exclusive – about whom you share your news. Much of the buzz around Adele’s latest album “25” is around the fact that she chose not to have it streamed on any digital music services. Despite this, the album (as of today) as sold over five million copies. This type of approach might not work for every artist, but the fact that she took a bold risk about how and where her album would be distributed should be applauded. Consider this too with your clients – are there instances where a story or announcement could be offered to an influential, trusted reporter as an exclusive rather than being distributed to a larger pool of journalists? Often times, one, in-depth, exclusive article in a targeted publication is far more impactful than several quick mentions based off of a release.
Connect with a large audience. Adele’s music speaks to pretty much everyone– as the Inc. article mentions, people from grannies to teens to CEOs can all relate to Adele. When you’re thinking of a pitch, try to consider the bigger story your client is trying to tell, or the broader problem they’re trying to solve. It’s easy to get bogged down in product tech-speak and industry-specific jargon, especially with very tech clients – but keep your eye on the bigger picture. What does this widget/technology/feature enable people to do that they couldn’t before? Why does that matter? Why is this company/executive interesting? It’s important to strike a balance in your messaging between more granular, specialized points of interest versus those that can be appreciated by a broader audience.
Be smart about social media. Adele doesn’t drunk tweet (anymore). Neither should you. Just don’t do it. It’s common sense, but never forget that your social posts can be read by everyone from your ex, your roommates, your boss, your cross fit instructor, your clients and your client’s clients. Be authentic, but be aware of how far those tweets and pictures and updates reach.
I hope this provides some good reminders for you and your PR teams in the year ahead – with her 2016 tour kicking off shortly, there will surely be numerous times throughout the year to revisit and reinforce these lessons by singing along with Adele loudly in your car and on karaoke stages across the country.
Celebrations are in order! Our recent client VoloMetrix, a leading people analytics technology company, announced earlier this year that it has been acquired by Microsoft to bring deeper insights into worker productivity. VoloMetrix’s technology provides unprecedented visibility into how people spend their time, offering enterprises a data-driven way to quantify employee efficiency and engagement.
VoloMetrix’s technology will power Microsoft’s new Delve Organizational Analytics platform, which will allow companies to cull Office 365 data to unearth workforce trends. By measuring productivity, the tool will also help companies better understand engagement and work/life balance issues facing their employees.
Rajesh Jha, corporate vice president of Outlook and Office 365, put it best when he shared in a blog post today: “Giving people access to real data and objective, personalized feedback can lead to a virtuous cycle of improvement for both individuals and their company.” Click here for Jha’s complete blog post announcing the acquisition.
VoloMetrix’s acquisition highlights the crucial role that PR can play in driving awareness of a company, particularly by potential acquirers. Through a strategic blend of rapid-response pitching, hard news and byline placements, VoloMetrix garnered significant coverage in business and tech press. Here are several coverage highlights we’re proud to share:
- Fortune: What can big data reveal about corporate culture? Get ready for ‘people analytics’
- The Wall Street Journal: Stop Wasting Everyone’s Time
- The Wall Street Journal: In ‘People Analytics,’ You’re Not a Human, You’re a Data Point
- Harvard Business Review: A Primer on Measuring Employee Engagement
- Forbes: Why Lagging Indicators Are Insufficient Measurements of Success
- Forbes: VoloMetrix Raises $12 Million Series B–Analytics For Organizational Performance
- TechCrunch: VoloMetrix Raises $12M For Its People Analytics Service
- Entrepreneur: How Big Data Will Change Everything About Managing Employees
VoloMetrix is truly a revolutionary and innovative company, and we wish them a huge congrats on their acquisition! We can’t wait to see VoloMetrix and Microsoft improve how enterprises around the globe operate and function.
For nearly two years, Communiqué PR has been working with Delta-Q Technologies, a leading supplier of battery charging solutions, to increase awareness of its solutions for electric vehicles and industrial machines. Delta-Q provides cutting-edge battery charging solutions that improve how industries power their battery-powered vehicles, such as lift trucks and golf carts. With increased power consumption—the EIA projects the world’s energy consumption will increase 56 percent by 2040— building a better battery charging solution is crucial to continued innovation. Delta-Q’s products have been well received in the industry and are in more than 1.2 million electric vehicles and industrial machines.
After popular demand for its IC650 battery charger, Delta-Q decided to expand this offering to form a common charging platform for use across manufacturers’ product lines. Earlier this month, we partnered with Delta-Q to announce its new, expanded IC Series product line, unveiling the IC900 and IC1200.
We worked with the company to identify target media amongst Delta-Q’s key segments— aerial work platforms, floor care machines, golf cars, lift trucks, power sports, and utility and transportation. By seeding the news, offering it to select media under embargo, we were able to secure initial interest from a range of outlets, and to further pique journalists’ interest once the announcement went live on November 3, 2015. Check out the full announcement and the video showcasing the expanded product line on Delta-Q’s website.
We’re pleased with the range of coverage—hitting all of Delta-Q’s key segments—as well as the interest garnered from the key targets. Following are the results Communiqué PR secured thus far on behalf of Delta-Q:
IC Series Coverage
- Power Sports Business: “Company releases chargers for electric motorcycles and scooters” (11/17/15)
- For Construction Pros: “Delta-Q Technologies Introduces New IC Series Industrial Battery Chargers” (11/12/15)
- Material Management & Distribution: “New Chargers from Delta-Q” (11/10/15)
- Battery Power: “Delta-Q Technologies Introduces IC Series Industrial Battery Chargers” (11/9/15)
- Advanced Lift Truck Technology International/International Industrial Vehicle Technology: “Delta-Q Technologies introduces IC Series industrial battery chargers” (11/6/15)
- Ultimate Motorcyling: “Delta-Q Technologies IC Series Motorcycle Battery Chargers Released” (11/6/15)
- ISSA Today: “Weekly Product Showcase November 6, 2015” (11/6/15)
- ThomasNet: “Battery Chargers support lead acid and lithium-ion batteries” (11/6/15)
- DC Velocity: “Industry Announcements” (11/6/15) *product announcement & image
- The Cleanzine: “Delta-Q announces new charging solutions for electric floorcare equipment” (11/5/15)
- KHL Magazines – Access International, Access Lift & Handlers, and International Rental News: “Full line battery chargers from Delta-Q” (11/5/15)
- Forklift Action: “New Chargers from Delta-Q” (11/4/15)
- Golf Business News: “Delta-Q Technologies Introduces New IC Series Industrial Battery Chargers” (11/5/15)
- Material Handling Wholesaler: “Delta-Q Technologies introduces new IC series industrial battery chargers” (11/4/15)
- DC Velocity: “Introducing Delta-Q’s IC Series Industrial Battery Chargers” (11/4/15) *video
- Pro Contractor Rentals: “New Battery Chargers for Electric, Hybrid AWPs” (11/4/15)
- CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine: “Delta-Q launches new charging solutions for electric motorcycles and scooters” (11/4/15)
- Sensors Online: “Delta-Q Technologies introduces new IC Series industrial battery chargers” (11/3/15)
- Lift and Access: “Delta-Q Expands Family of On-Board Battery Chargers for Aerial Lifts” (11/3/15)
- PowerPulse.net: “Battery Chargers for Industrial Equipment and EVs” (11/3/15)
- Material Handling Network: “Delta-Q Technologies Introduces New IC Series Industrial Battery Chargers” (11/3/15)
- E-Motorcycle: “Delta-Q Technologies Introduces New IC Series Industrial Battery Chargers” (11/3/15)
For more on results secured by the Communiqué team, see our blog posts “Works Applications Previews New EPS Solution and Prepares to Disrupt the U.S. Market” and “Case Study: Launching a Satellite-Imaging Startup.”
The Seattle tech scene is booming and with several Silicon Valley companies including Facebook, Twitter, Apple and reportedly Snapchat opening engineering offices here, the burgeoning tech sector is undoubtedly having a positive impact on our local economy. With new tech jobs comes an influx of new residents, eager to find lucrative positions within IT, technology, and software design.
Our client Ya Joe recognized this tech-infused trend and created a new clothing company aimed specifically at the functional needs of “tech guys” to help them find a new way to look great with a minimal need for shopping. Founded by former CEO and Co-founder of ExOfficio Joe Boldan and Chief Creative Officer Aaron Hicks, Ya Joe selected Communiqué PR as its agency of record to help support PR initiatives around their groundbreaking launch.
“In our market research,” said Boldan, “we found that our guys often had a hard time analyzing a look or style to find something that worked for them, as well as how do you analyze a look, feel or style? I teamed up with Aaron to design the first-ever clothing line using an analytic approach with our tech guys in mind. Ya Joe’s primary goal is to alleviate the stress and anxiety these guys often experience while shopping and provide them with an alternative that has them in mind and gives them the clothing they deserve.”
The two passionately addressed these issues, basing each apparel item they designed on three fashion elements that can actually be quantified and measured: comfort, ease of care, and functionality.
By analyzing tech guys in their day-to-day lives, Boldan and Hicks were also able to better understand the features of apparel items that would make their lives easier, such as pockets that easily fit a work badge and mobile device or pockets that guys can comfortably place their hands in— elements that fashion pieces had previously neglected.
“Since we wanted to make the process for our shoppers as easy and stress free as possible, we decided to also offer selected options and colors for various occasions” said Hicks. “We use high-quality fabrics, and customize each piece to fit within our customers’ lives. The clothing is interchangeable, allowing the casual yet professional pieces to easily transition from day to night. This allows our customers to purchase a range of clothing items that all look good together.”
As a result of working with Communiqué, Ya Joe launched with great success with the following secured media placements in TechCrunch, The Seattle Times, Geekwire, Network World, and CIO:
- TechCrunch: Ya Joe Makes Clothes for All Us Nerds, Geeks, by John Biggs
- The Seattle Times: Ya Joe Makes Clothing for Analytical ‘Tech Guys,’ by Rachel Lerman
- CIO: Best-Dressed Techies? Retail Startup Designs Cargo Pants and T-Shirts for IT, by Ann Bednarz
- Geekwire: Meet Ya Joe: A new apparel company targeting ‘tech guys’ who struggle with fashion, by Taylor Soper
- Network World: Best-dressed techies? Retail startup designs khakis and t-shirts for IT, by Ann Bednarz
- Silicon Angle: Ya Joe Aims to Give Nerdy Tech Guys a Fashion Makeover. By Collen Kriel
- Beta News: New clothing company aims to make geeks chic, by Ian Barker
- Reposted on Zicos
In addition, the press release was reposted on over 100 websites and the launch accounted for an exponential increase in Ya Joe’s web traffic, directly attributed to PR activity. At launch, website traffic soared to nearly 7,300 active users with an additional spike on day 2 after the company was announced to the public.
A huge congratulations to Ya Joe for a successful launch and we look forward to wearing your fantastic clothes!