A few years ago, I heard an NPR story about a man who had translated Herman Melville’s Moby Dick into emoji. It seemed yet another cruel assault on the English language and, for that matter, on language in general.
No matter what our endeavor, whether we are making mobile phones or enhancing the mobility of someone with a disability, we all seek to create value for those we serve.
It’s that time of year again. Communications planning time! Don’t have one? Maybe this is the year to create one. And if you do have one, it’s time to examine how well you did against this past year’s efforts and what adjustments you would make for the coming 12 months.
Several years ago, a colleague asked me to do an informational interview with a young woman who was thinking about getting into public relations. Happy to do this as a favor to a helpful colleague, I met with the young woman on a Saturday, answered her questions, and gave her the names of a few others to contact. I never heard from her again.
While doing a radio interview recently, I did what I tell my clients to do—taped myself so I could listen to the interview and grab some soundbites for the future. Instead, I discovered that I have an “um” and “you know” problem.
Two experiences with service providers on the same night reminded me of a key tenet of value creation: mutual trust between your enterprise and your clients, customers, donors or partners.
In Marketing and Communications, it is easy to want to chase the shiny bright object--the newest social media platform, a new design for the logo, a new tagline. But the real magic of branding is making your brand live in the hearts and minds of your stakeholders.
Wainger’s Rockville-based PR firm focuses as much on helping clients communicate internally as it does to the outside world. A key early contact and mentor was local tech godfather Mario Morino, who encouraged her to eventually launch her own firm in 2000. (Video by Emily Mekinc)
“Wainger’s Rockville-based PR firm focuses as much on helping clients communicate internally as it does to the outside world. Building visibility and getting media hits are nice, but they won’t happen if your company’s stakeholders don’t have a good grasp of who you are …”
The California drought brings into sharp focus the value and fragility of a vital natural resource. After four years of little rain, the state is so parched and the situation so dire that the governor imposed severe restrictions on water usage, and those who appear to defy those limits find themselves in the headlines.
