Tips To Avoid Scary PR
It’s that time of year again when we share our tips for avoiding creepy PR (aka bad media relations). Heed these warnings to avoid ghoulish mistakes and frightening outcomes in your public relations media campaigns.
It’s that time of year again when we share our tips for avoiding creepy PR (aka bad media relations). Heed these warnings to avoid ghoulish mistakes and frightening outcomes in your public relations media campaigns.
When I started PerkettPR in 1998, I was really focused on filling a void in the PR industry. Times were good, with tech PR especially booming, and I kept meeting startup founders who wanted and needed PR help but couldn’t get agencies to call them back. Agencies were busy, indeed, but I recognized this overflow as a prime time to break out on my own and pick up the business that wasn’t being addressed.
Here we are 20 years later! We’re still filling the void for clients seeking unique, measurable and effective marketing and PR campaigns. Sometimes I can’t believe it, but after serving hundreds of clients across the world – from Boston to San Francisco and many states in between, as well as Australia, Europe and APAC – we are still an award-winning, thriving and creative agency that’s been doing much more than PR for quite some time now. As PR is only a slice of an integrated marketing campaign, our services have expanded to include content marketing, digital media and advertising, social media management, sales support, training, events and even fractional CMO services, allowing us to work intimately with clients who need an experienced marketing lead as they start out, or are in transition.
What better way to celebrate than a makeover? We wanted to recognize how we’ve grown with a fresh brand that better reflects what we do for global companies today. We’re excited to announce our new name, look and feel. While PerkettPR has served us well, it was time to emphasize the expanded scope of marketing services that we’ve been providing for years now. We also wanted to give a nod to the reality that marketers are trying to reach audiences who are more connected, distracted and impatient than ever. Their minds are full and their attention is whittled – with constant media and social media in front of them it’s harder than ever to stand out and raise awareness. It takes an aggressive and thoughtful team to help brands break through the clutter and engage their target audience. It takes understanding that marketing is no longer speaking at, but speaking with, constituents in a mindful manner.
See what some of our clients have had to say about working with us.
It’s all very exciting! We like a challenge. In the same manner that we boldly founded an agency in 1998 that had an unprecedented business model and has since garnered national recognition, celebrated numerous accolades and awards, successfully weathered two recessions, and employed amazing individuals from coast to coast, we will continue to pave inventive paths for our clients under the Mindfull Marketing brand. We will refocus on growth opportunities, expanding our team as we continue to service clients in Europe and the U.S.
We hope you’ll join us for the next innovative 20 years.
– Christine
New brand name, look and feel reflect the award-winning agency’s expanded integrated marketing services
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – BOSTON – October 17, 2018 – PerkettPR, an award-winning provider of results-based public relations and strategic marketing communications, today announced that on its twentieth anniversary, it has rebranded to Mindfull Marketing + PR. The agency unveiled a new logo, name and website that further demonstrate the scope of integrated marketing services that it provides to clients around the world in technology, business, healthcare, consumer and higher education. Christine Perkett remains CEO.
Founded in 1998 by Perkett, Mindfull Marketing + PR provides exclusively senior-level strategic counsel and preeminent execution of public relations and marketing programs that clearly and consistently deliver return on investment. Its selective client roster has spanned the globe – from Australia to Norway, London to San Francisco and more. Clients have included WebEx, Constant Contact, Juniper Networks, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Clavis Insight, Northeastern University, Octo Telematics, Life is Good, Quiet Revolution and many more.
“Brands need a team that understands that the way to engage their consumer is constantly evolving,” said Rebecca Tarantino, marketer and two-time former client of PerkettPR. “Christine and her team shine in the most complex go to market environments, having the unique ability to devise marketing strategies that cut through the clutter to engage and convert at every level. I think the move to rebrand to Mindfull Marketing + PR is another example of this insight – demonstrating the agency’s integrated capabilities across the marketing ecosystem.”
The agency has been recognized with numerous industry awards including multiple Bell Ringers from the Publicity Club of New England including Best TV Placement, National Commentary, Response to Breaking News, Consumer Campaign and more, a “Golden Image” nod from Forrester Research, “Best PR Executive” from the American Business Awards, Best of the Best” PR firm by PR Sourcecode, and was a finalist in the prestigious Techcrunch Crunchie’s the only year it honored tech PR firms. Mindfull Marketing’s full scope of services include branding services, content marketing, digital media and advertising, SEO, writing services, PR, sales support, social media, training, events and fractional CMO services.
“When I founded the company, our focus was almost exclusively on tech PR but quickly expanded as our solid reputation grew and the market needs changed,” said Christine Perkett, CEO of Mindfull Marketing + PR. “Over the last 10 years, our talented team has been delivering a wider scope of action-oriented content and integrated campaigns that companies require in today’s digital world. The rebrand better communicates our ability to grab the attention of highly distracted and divided audiences – helping businesses and institutions to thrive in a competitive market and delivering a marketing blueprint for success.”
For more information on the thought behind the name change, read Christine’s blog about the announcement.
Boston-based Atomik Design worked with Mindfull Marketing + PR on the logo and website.
About Mindfull Marketing + PR
Mindfull Marketing + PR is an award-winning integrated marketing and PR agency that manages brand reputations and promotes and grows businesses. Offering superior service from a team of senior-level professionals that execute both strategy and tactics, we apply expertise across a wide range of marketing and communications disciplines to deliver efficient, consistent and ground breaking marketing communications campaigns.
With the foresight to rapidly adapt and stay ahead of an ever-evolving market, we help clients achieve their business goals. Formerly PerkettPR, Mindfull Marketing + PR has been nationally recognized for exceptional client results, business leadership and innovative human resources initiatives for over 20 years. For more information, visit www.mindfullmarketing.com
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Our Founder & CEO was included in this article about managing remote teams.
What makes a community? I was on a social media panel at MIT Sloan, where we began the conversation with this topic – community building. How do you use social media to build a community around your brand?
There are two key words that come to mind when I think of community:
It’s easy to broadcast on social media, but if you’re looking to build a community and advocacy around your brand, lead with these two values. Be helpful – post tips, tricks, and hacks – tell people how they can do things better or easier. Be resourceful – build up your thought leadership around key subjects that you know are important to your connections. Offer insights, experiences or opinions. Be thoughtful. When people know they can rely on your for quality content, they will continue to come back to your channels. You have become a resource to them.
Another simple approach is to think about walking into a party in your new neighborhood. Let’s say you’ve just moved in. If you want to become a part of the community, you don’t barge into the party loudly broadcasting how great you are and pitching people on what you do. You’d likely take the time to introduce yourself, get to know what matters to your neighbors and, if appropriate, offer up insights on things you have in common, sharing your experiences.
Online isn’t really all that different. Brands lose sight of this. Just because you can broadcast on social media doesn’t mean that all you should broadcast is information about yourself. Brands especially need to take care with how they establish and build community. It’s okay to share information about your products and services but in the end, by being a resource and offering ongoing information about topics related to your business – and to what your audience cares about – you will develop stronger relationships.
For more on this and other social media tips, check out the video from the panel. Bobbie Carleton of Innovation Women was our amazing moderator. Thank you for the opportunity, Bobbie!
Combining research with a set of unbiased metrics, Rise Global by RichTopia began compiling its list of the top 250 most successful female leaders from around the world in November 2015. Our Founder & CEO, Christine Perkett, has been on the list since it’s founding, among well known influencers such as politicians Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, actresses Lauren Conrad and Felicia Day, and activists such as Gloria Steinem and Shiza Shahid, Founding General Partner @
Richtopia is a digital business magazine that is dedicated to bringing today’s leaders the latest news and interesting stories from the worlds of business, tech, finance and economics as well as providing insights from the world’s most innovative, successful and inspiring people. The platform seeks to be the go-to resource for seekers of valuable knowledge about subjects such as entrepreneurship, management, work/life balance, investments and leadership.
Our Founder & CEO, Christine Perkett, was ranked #52 among influential women including Arianna Huffington, Melinda Gates, Marissa Mayer, Sheryl Sandberg and others – chosen by a unique measuring tool called “True Reach,” which was devised by Klear. While users of social media will often point to their follower count as an indicator of how influential they are, it’s easy to debunk that as a valuable metric. As is often the case, people use social media as a way to validate their ego and vanity, but True Reach cuts though that. Rather than simply counting how many people are actively following an account, True Reach measures how many people have seen a status update or post across multiple social media accounts; which provides a much more accurate picture of what someone’s influence looks like.
Fit Small Business compiled a list of Top PR Influencers of 2018 – including our Founder & CEO, Christine Perkett Congratulations to all of influencers! The goal is to share top Public Relations resources for small businesses, and includes tips and tricks from the best.
Sometimes small businesses get overwhelmed with the idea of creating marketing campaigns. They often think effective marketing has to be expensive and intricate. But the truth is, sometimes the best marketing comes in the form of simple, smart moves. One example comes from Sunglass Hut.
When you buy a pair of sunglasses at any Sunglass Hut, they’ll ask you if you’d like to purchase one of their cleaning kits. Great. But did you know that if you do, they offer free refills of the cleaning solution for life?
Pretty smart, eh? Here’s why:
The company offers several other smart marketing examples such as free shipping, fittings and returns. For marketers who understand the psychology of “free,” you know these are smart moves. You don’t have to be a large corporation to implement some kind of repeat business campaign. Maybe you can’t afford to provide free shipping or products, but I bet you can afford to give loyalty discounts or other creative reasons for a shopper to return to your store. Perhaps it’s a free pair of earrings with every necklace purchase during the holidays, or a Free Refill on a shopper’s Birthday. Get creative and remember, you’re trying to get them back into your store – online or off – to encourage additional engagement.
Marketing doesn’t have to mean a huge, flashy campaign. The best marketing keeps the customer in mind, and looks at offers and promotions from their perspective.