The marketing software firm, Hubspot teamed with PR Newswire recently to look at the hard numbers on the best time to distribute a press release. The results were surprising and bucked traditional notions of when and how to circulate a press release for maximum effect. The Metrics Behind Successful Press Releases: First, know your objective. Is your press release part of your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategy or do you want live views and social shares? The timing tactics are very different for syndication versus live views. The tactics of a public global company will also be different...


Read More

In the now classic book, The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell provides a brilliant marketing analysis for start-ups on how to spread a message. An example of a tipping point is that combination of events between 32 degrees and 33 degrees that changes everything. In marketing nomenclature it’s the hockey stick curve. To illustrate the power of word of mouth, Gladwell contrasts the midnight ride of Paul Revere against the midnight ride of William Dawes. Both men set off with the same message and the same mission in different directions. Of course, Paul Revere went on to become a legend, but how many...


Read More

The Academy Award winning documentary, The Fog of War features a series of fascinating interviews with Robert Strange McNamara, the Secretary of Defense credited with escalating the Vietnam war under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. When director, Errol Morris asked McNamara about his Vietnam press strategy, he responded with a note of triumph. “I only answered the questions I wanted the reporters to ask.” In a recent interview, a popular legal commentator and recovering PR hound recounted the time she shuffled her client schedule, negotiated an afternoon of LA traffic, sat through...


Read More

Why do some speakers have the power to spark us to action? What is that elusive quality that the French call, I don’t know what? One of the most profound questions we can ask is – what is the difference that makes the difference? “Success leaves clues.” Those are the words of Jim Rohn, one of the most successful communicators of our time. Whether you’re called to give the speech of your life, present your book, or stage a simple webinar, we can all benefit from examining the clues given to us by the greats. The Art & Science of Extraordinary Speaking I love to ask people...


Read More