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.
We are proud to share that, Mobile On, a developer of the first cross-platform, do-it-yourself (DIY) solution that enables businesses and organizations to create customized smartphone applications, was featured on Tues., Dec. 8 in a Wall Street Journal article titled, ’Services Tailor Apps for Small Businesses. The story discusses the new wave of DIY services available to small business owners looking to leverage mobile applications to complement their business.
Freelance Reporter Riva Richmond takes a look at the emerging category of companies enabling small businesses and organizations to build their own iPhone/smartphone applications quickly and affordably – without the need for a developer. These applications provide small businesses with an opportunity to interact with customers directly on their smartphones.
Riva illustrates the impact a mobile application can have on a small business through a variety of stories from early adopters such as Barb Heinrich, owner of Local Motion, a clothing boutique in Minneapolis. Heinrich leveraged Mobile Onís BuildAnApp solution to develop an application that allows her to display store hours, location and pictures of new clothing arrivals. This application aligns with her other online marketing efforts including a company Web site and e-mail blasts aimed at connecting with regular customers.
Mobile On recently launched the open beta of its flagship product BuildAnApp, the first cross platform, DIY Web-based solution that empowers small businesses, community groups and professional service organizations to create compelling applications that work across any smartphone platform – without any software development skills or resources.
Opus Research Analyst Greg Sterling believes DIY mobile solutions can be beneficial for small businesses and was quoted in the article saying, ’For ongoing, regular contact with customers that are on the go, it makes sense as a promotional or loyalty tool. Since apps enable businesses to send out coupons and event details, including by text message and customers can easily place orders or contact you for information.
Are you interested in building your own smartphone application? Check out www.buildanapp.com to get started on building your application in a matter of minutes.
The Wall Street Journal and Washington Times both published articles on Wed., Dec. 2 about Tiger Wood’s management of his personal crisis – the car accident and reported affairs. Both articles provide readers with an excellent reminder of the importance of communicating in a timely manner and being as transparent as possible during a crisis.
In the Washington Times article titled, ’Woods Facing a Public Relations Bogey, Writer Tim Lemke contrasts how other athletes such as Alex Rodriguez and Michael Phelps have come clean and responded quickly to serious personal mistakes. As a result, they were able to significantly mitigate the damage to their reputations and careers.
Writer Dana Mattioli provides a similar perspective in the Wall Street Journal article, ’Tiger Bungles Crisis Management 101. She shares an example of how the executive management team of JetBlue failed to respond in a timely manner to a crisis around an ice storm which left passengers stranded. As a result of the lack of response from JetBlue, there was significantly more outrage from passengers and the CEO was forced out of his job just three months later.
Whereas when Maple Leaf Foods, a Canadian food-maker, faced a listeria outbreak, its CEO responded immediately by apologizing in ads and in interviews with the media. In this case, Maple Leafís response was considered a success and the CEO kept his job.
As a PR professional who has provided counsel around situations in which companies have unexpectedly found themselves caught up in crisis, I found both of these articles to be spot on in their recommendations. In the case of Tiger Woods, it is yet to be seen how his lack of acknowledgement of this situation will impact his reputation and career.
However, in the heat of the moment, when people are embarrassed or fearful, it is not always easy to remember the importance of quickly acknowledging mistakes, but it is often the right thing to do.
On December 1, Ward’s Dealer Business published an article from Jennifer Gehrt titled, “5 Tips for Better Brand Building.” This article provides insight on how auto dealers and auto makers can leverage digital assets to build brand awareness and increase loyalty with consumers.
Many dealers are striving to differentiate themselves and want to encourage consumers to purchase vehicles from them. It is now more important than ever for dealers to positively position themselves as the ideal place to shop for and buy a new vehicle.
Jennifer shares examples from companies including Volkswagen, General Motors (GM), Carter Subaru in Seattle and Honesdale Auto Mart in Pennsylvania.
To read the article online, click here. If you have questions about how to build brand awareness and leverage digital assets and social mediums to reach target audiences, contact us at info@communiquepr.com.
We are pleased to share some exciting news. Attachmate has become one of the first application vendors to achieve Common Use Passenger Processing Systems (CUPPS) certification for its INFOConnect Enterprise Edition for Airlines Print and Transaction Router (PTR32) solutions.
Airlines around the world are working to replace the Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE), the current check-in and boarding standard, and are migrating to the CUPPS platform. Attachmate has long been committed to the development of technology to support the CUPPS platform and is helping customers such as Continental Airlines easily upgrade to terminal emulation solutions that complement the new platform.
To learn more about INFOConnect Enterprise Edition for Airlines Print and Transaction Router (PTR32) solutions, visit www.attachmate.com.
You can also read the full press release by clicking here.
The dragonfly has been long praised for its ability to help control populations of harmful insects. But could this nimble insect with its multi-faceted eyes, elongated body and two pairs of powerful wings, also hold the key to controlling harmful threats to public safety?
We recently reached out to a number of journalists to let them know about research that is being done on the flight dynamics of these four-winged insects. Researchers at Wright State University have been studying dragonflies with the ultimate goal of developing quad-winged micro-air vehicles (MAVs) that mimic the flight of dragonflies.
Quad-winged MAVs are being developed to monitor activity in public places, such as sports stadiums or public transit stations, to help detect biological or chemical weapons. The vehicles will also be used to search for victims of fires, bombs and other threats in spaces that are unsafe or too small for people to enter.
Led by Dr. Haibo Dong, graduate students are using computer models to study the movement and physics surrounding dragonfly flight. With the help of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) visualization tools, such as Tecplot 360, Dr. Dong and his team are able to examine and analyze the dragonfly flight under a variety of conditions and create still images that allow them to scrutinize the actions frame by frame.
Communiqué PR is publicizing the work of the researchers and helping journalists understand how theyíre using Tecplot. On Nov. 18, Red Orbit, a Web site devoted to science news, published a case study about the research. To read the case study online, click here.
We also have received interest in this story from journalists with Discover magazine, Science magazine, R&D and Desktop Engineering. We will keep you posted when additional articles on this subject appear.
I recently came across an interesting article in BusinessWeek discussing the importance of incorporating social media training into today’s higher education curriculum in order to adequately prepare the next generation of employees.
The article titled, ’Teaching the Facebook Generation by Dr. Elaine Young, an associate professor of marketing at Champlain College reveals that broad skills particularly in marketing, advertising and public relations used to be sufficient, but the rise of social media has forced recent graduates to demonstrate a set of concrete technology skills in order for them to succeed in the workplace. These skills include basic knowledge of HTML, search engine optimization, Google Ad Words, ADOBE and strategically leveraging social networking platforms on behalf of an organization.
While it’s no secret that today’s students are well versed in social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, these mediums are primarily being used for personal use. Dr. Young stresses, ’Professors need to lead students by example by knowing the mechanics of social media and showing our students how to use them strategically for the good of their employers.
She also says, ’The reality is that many businesses are struggling to wrap their arms around these developments as well. They actually are looking to new graduates to help them manage their digital strategies for them, with the assumption that because they are young they are familiar with the social media world. But our students cannot know how to leverage these tools professionally unless we teach them how.
When I first started in PR 11 years ago, the most critical skills I needed to posses to land a job were solid writing and verbal communication and a basic knowledge of Microsoft Office. Everything else I learned on the job – including technology. As social media becomes more and more relevant for organizations, the next generation of our workforce has to bring a more comprehensive skill set to the table in order to be successful in their careers.
If youíre looking to strategically leverage social media within your organization, drop us a line at info@communiquepr.com, weíd love to share our ideas with you.