It’s no secret. Online continues to leapfrog more traditional media channels annually — both in use, and trust. In fact, one very popular restaurant chain has put all of their marketing dollars into digital channels. Let’s look at a couple of stats. 81% of folks conduct online research before making a purchase or visiting a business. 84% of people trust an …
Are online reviews hurting or helping your sales? Read More »
As you can imagine, in the public relations world, we are continually interacting with and building relationships with journalists. During my 25-plus years of media relations and crisis/issues management experience and into today, there’s one thing that’s remained consistent: the same media missteps continue to rear their ugly heads. What can you do to avoid the “media spokesperson …
For many business owners, an unexpected call from a reporter is about as fun as being caught going through a red light camera. To avoid the internal fire drill, we always recommend having a media protocol plan for your business or organization that is simple (remember the KISS philosophy?) and shared by all. Don’t know where …
“If you build it they will come.” I’m a big Kevin Costner and Field of Dreams fan, but I’m a bigger fan of successful businesses. So, while the concept makes for a good movie premise, the busiest new restaurants realize that “launching and hoping” is not a strategy. Grand openings, market entries, new product launches …
Top 3 reasons that your grand opening is just the beginning Read More »
by Kim McKeeman Grand openings, market entries, new product launches – they’re a lot of work. One restaurant owner described it as “birthing a baby.” I’m not a restaurant owner, but I have opened and rebranded my own business, helped restaurant owners open hundreds of locations and I’ve given birth to three boys. So, yep, …
Today’s Special: 5 Tips to Grow and Sustain Your Opening Read More »
Like a post. Share a post. Comment on a post. Most people and businesses can catch on quickly to the dos and don’ts of social media, but have trouble understanding the “why” behind the “what.” Why do I need to care about engagement? Why do I want to grow my page likes or follower count? …
Spoiler alert: it all begins with a simple issue. Believe it or not, avoiding a viral scandal or becoming the punch-line in late-night entertainment shows is manageable. The key lies in anticipating and solving issues through several simple — but not easy — steps. Make issue-solving core to your company culture. Practice and celebrate an issue-solving mentality. …
Spoiler Alert: It All Starts With A Simple Issue We’ve seen some doozies recently in the news when it comes to companies behaving badly. It’s easy to think that those PR faux pas just happened out of the blue – after all, isn’t that what crises are? Unpredictable situations, and you simply need to buckle …
Yes. I did, unfortunately, just use an overused seasonal pun. But when spring cleaning is on the brain, what better time is there to spruce up your writing so that, you know, people actually READ it. As PR/communications professionals, we sometimes (ok, most of the time) overanalyze our language which results in flowery language, too …
How to SPRING up your communication in 5 minutes Read More »
Five years. To me, that seems like a long time when you break it down. Just one year: three hundred and sixty-five days, 52 weeks, and 8,760 hours. However, time flies…whether you’re having fun or not. Five years ago, I was a recent grad from East Carolina University. I was newly single, wanting to be …