JCPR Blog

This Week in Content spotlights the latest research and trends in branding, content marketing and social media. Three Reasons a “Mobile First” Philosophy is Critical to Achieving Your Business Goals More mobile devices are sold every day than [...]

In an episode of the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, booze-guzzling PR maven Edina Monsoon’s daughter declares she has no idea what her mother actually does for a living. Edina, also unsure of what she actually does, responds, “I PR … [...]

When it comes to music, technology begets adaptation. For years there was only one medium – vinyl. Purchasing and owning records was an experience that defined the listener. If you wanted the new album by a particular artist, it required going to [...]

Originally appeared in Money Management Executive. The forces of global regulatory change are in high gear, and mutual fund firms need to brace themselves for the new mandates barreling in from different parts of the world. Firms need to have the [...]

Your video is not a Field of Dreams. If you simply build it no one will come. In this four part series on video optimization for search, we will help you learn important tips and tricks about Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO). VSEO is [...]

It’s no secret that financial services firms are turning to social media to attract additional clients. Public relations agencies can help financial advisors and fund managers reach their target audiences through social media, and effectively [...]

In the Seinfeld episode, “The Comeback,” George Costanza is at a business meeting gorging on shrimp when a co-worker named Reilly says, “Hey George, the ocean called: they’re running out of shrimp.” At a loss for a witty response, George [...]

Originally appeared in Money Management Executive. Today, mutual fund firms are not only facing heightened regulatory scrutiny, they are navigating a highly digital media world moving at breakneck speed. Combustion between the two can be [...]

Jennifer Connelly Interactive Productions is the Intel Inside Altegris’ “Edutainment” Video Series When Altegris wanted to launch a cutting-edge platform to educate advisors about alternative investments, they turned to Jennifer Connelly [...]

Originally appeared in Money Management Executive. It's been more than three years since the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a new rule requiring boards to disclose whether and how they go about recruiting more diverse directors. It was [...]

Social media has revolutionized the way that companies communicate their unique value and engage with customers. However, social media without the social is simply a single stream of communication to an audience that may not be listening. The [...]

Consumers of all products and services have one thing in common: they want to know their feedback is desired and taken seriously. The late Ed Koch, who served as mayor of New York City from 1978-1989, understood this very well. His catchphrase, [...]

Whenever a major corporation suffers any type of issue with their product or service, it’s amazing to see how many so called “experts” come out of the woodwork to quickly label the issue as a PR disaster. Our industry is similar to that of [...]

REI represents the best of conscious capitalism. With revenues of 2 billion annually, the retail leader – and lifestyle hub – is the poster child for the highly sought-after triple bottom line of people, planet and profit. Now, with REI’s [...]

PE shops, it seems, are about to get a bit more heat, and may need to think about ways to cool down. Private equity firms were part of a force of registrants last year who enrolled for the first time with the Securities and Exchange Commission as [...]

Communication is scientifically defined as the activity of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts, messages or information by speech, visuals, signals, writing or behavior. Communication adds meaning to the things we experience each [...]

Orignally appeared in Money Management Executive. For mutual fund firms, 2013 could be a particularly challenging year. They will continue to be mired in responses to Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act requirements, including the potential [...]

The classic 1967 film Cool Hand Luke spawned a memorable quote: “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” If companies wish to avoid brand damage, their internal departments must communicate and collaborate with each other frequently [...]

It may be time to think more seriously about the needs of one particular financial player, one enduring underdog in our investing public – one who goes by the name of “Aunt Millie.” Aunt Millie is an unsophisticated investor with limited [...]

After a Great Recession fueled largely by the crises and scandals of the financial sector, it’s not surprising that Americans are feeling less than enthusiastic about the nation’s banks. In fact, Gallup’s most recent poll of public confidence [...]

Another year has come and gone, and that means another season of New Year’s resolutions is upon us. New Year’s resolutions are not only applicable to personal matters; they can also address necessary improvements in PR. Sandy Evans Levine, [...]

Originally appeared in Money Management Executive. The highly regulated mutual fund industry has largely been spared from the post-2008 financial crisis reforms – except, of course, for money market funds which can’t seem to move off the [...]

Everyone has a solution, but how well do they know the problem? Unfortunately, when it comes to social media, many focus on the former and completely ignore the latter. A social media strategy can’t be based on assumptions, and it’s not enough [...]

Originally appeared in Money Management Executive. The world of communications in the mutual fund industry is rife with buzzwords and phrases. They come in and out of favor as funds and fund managers seek to gain competitive advantage by [...]

Why aren’t there any new Christmas songs? There are probably millions of new songs written every year. I know there were tens of thousands of songs recorded and released commercially in 2012, because they were all on the list of 2012 Grammy [...]

America being a free country, we’re all entitled to our own opinions about Democratic vs. Republican, dogs vs. cats, bacon vs. chocolate. Cheap and easy-to-use digital technology also means that we can now upload our preferences and share them as [...]

While social media outlets can be golden opportunities to market fresh ideas and garner real-time intelligence on how news resonates with the public, they can also become PR quagmires and regulatory pitfalls. Take a look at recent news reports that [...]

What would you do if an infamous dictator asked your PR firm to rehabilitate his country’s image? Martha Boudreau, Regional President for Mid-Atlantic and Latin America at Fleishman-Hillard, is one of the few PR professionals who can draw on [...]

There’s a gap in our industry: a gap that threatens the livelihood of every individual and agency involved in PR. The gap is one of creativity, which, if it continues to grow, will lead to an unbridgeable chasm of relevancy. It’s time to get mad [...]

In the book, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, author James Surowiecki makes the point that a large group of people working together is [...]

Like most sane people, you’ve probably been muttering, cursing and talking back to various devices in recent months. It’s election season in America, after all.  Whether you’re coming from the left, right or center, some candidate’s speech, [...]

By Cheryl'Lynn Joost As Social Media Manager for JCPR, I spend a great deal of time combing the internet for creative campaigns that use social media to create a powerful community of brand evangelists. One of the most compelling recent examples of [...]

Yes, you read the headline correctly, and no, you have not stumbled upon the Us Weekly homepage. The lessons learned from Dina Lohan, the train-wreck mother of train-wreck Lindsay Lohan, make for an intriguing PR case study – specifically, [...]

Last month, NPR’s Scott Simon eloquently mused over the current use – and in his mind, overuse – of the word “curate” in a witty commentary on the subject. Simon notes that ‘curate’ has been stolen from museum walls and applied to [...]

I recently had the privilege to attend “Think Performance” by Google, a marketing conference with the purpose of showing how to optimize a business’ online presence by leveraging Google’s tools and services. Aside from the opportunity to [...]

Originally appeared in Money Management Executive. "Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further developments," Julius Sextus Frontinus, Roman engineer, 10 A.D. This quote seems completely ridiculous when looking [...]

For those of us who are professional communicators, words, their meanings revealed by the context in which they are used, are the building blocks we use to give dimension to abstract concepts and bring ideas to life. Even if the words are meant to [...]

As a proud member of the Content Team here at JCPR, writing press releases is a key responsibility. The best PR professionals make writing look easy. However, rarely is it a breeze. A great deal of time and dedication go into communicating a [...]

What makes millions of people, with no connection to each other besides wanting a new cell phone, wake up in the middle of the night to buy it? There aren’t limited quantities, the phone itself doesn’t do anything different from other phones, [...]

Crisis may be the new normal for investors, but it's also the stark reality of the communications landscape. Good news may travel fast, but bad news travels even faster-and mutual fund companies are by no means immune from the threats to their [...]

This is a story about a shirt I didn’t need, but I bought anyway. Why? Because of the label. At the time, I didn’t realize that the well-designed label pushed me from “I kind of want it,” to “I have to have it.”  But as many marketing [...]

The latest research shows that clients of financial advisors increasingly believe that the grass may be greener working with another advisor. Investors believe there are better alternatives – and aren’t afraid to look for them. Given this [...]

I recently read an article by Hollis Thomases in Inc. entitled, “11 Reasons a 23-Year-Old Shouldn’t Run Your Social Media.” As a 23-year-old myself, I was quite offended. Many of my peers are already struggling to find jobs, and what right [...]

Over at Forbes, PR executive Aaron Kwittken asks, “Did Lance Armstrong Make The Right PR Call?”    Regarding the superstar athlete’s decision not to continue arbitration with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) over doping allegations, [...]

Think about how people consume information: it’s not from one source, app or platform. People prefer information from multiple streams rather than from a single river. Streams are varied ideas, voices and media converging into a platform that [...]

At the end of the day, pressing the flesh still counts. The truth is that quite often, people do business with you quite simply because they like you. New business guru and JCPR friend Robb High compares forming business relationships to dating. I [...]

The virtual world is full of attention traps lying in wait for the unsuspecting surfer. Click on some link and you can end up losing great chunks of your day. “Sticky” sites can be black holes in an otherwise productive schedule, as you glance [...]

Whenever anyone sees those six words in an email, text message or social media post they take notice. The fact that such emphatic validation of the video is stamped – not by the brand behind the video, but by a friend, follower or other trusted [...]

Just a few months ago, Pinterest was the new kid on the social media block, but is now the number three social network in the world, behind only Facebook and Twitter.  It has attracted 10 million monthly visitors faster than any other site in [...]

(spoiler alert: you don’t have to be a gold-medal writer to make it happen) A steady stream of content will win you a shiny gold medal in the eyes of your co-workers, customers and influencers. While quality counts, quantity is the Michael [...]

Words are important to me, as they should be for anyone in the communication business. As a kid I loved to pore through the dictionary (or the encyclopedia or an atlas) and I still do. I still get excited learning new words (especially ones I can [...]

On the surface, many of the iconic quotes from actor Samuel L. Jackson have nothing to do with social media, but if you take a deeper look into some of Mr. Jackson’s famous one-liners, you’ll find words of wisdom that apply to companies that are [...]

Companies hire people based largely on tangible factors. However, the most critical measure of an employee's potential impact on the company -- engagement -- is often overlooked. That measurement is what could ultimately bring a business to the next [...]

“1, 2, 3 … Facebook!” At least, that is what most adolescents are thinking as soon as their camera flashes. “Tag me!” has become the instantaneous reaction to every picture. This is the essence of personal visual branding.  Facebook [...]

Financial advisors have lagged when it comes to utilizing social media, but unfortunately the people they need to reach most have not. Investors and media have aggressively embraced it, and used channels like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to [...]

Brand identity is no longer built solely on what a company does. Regardless of whether they make a faster vehicle, a smarter phone or a killer app, it’s how companies communicate how that product or service sets them apart from others that can [...]

Written communication--whether it's e-mail, Twitter, text messages or blog posts--has supplanted verbal communication in every facet of our lives. Words have, in essence, become disposable, as we are inundated every day with an unprecedented volume [...]

It’s a simple question, but one many companies can’t easily answer. In marketing and PR, we try to distill a company’s story down to key messages -- the points that each spokesperson uses to ensure that they are telling the [...]

By Cheryl'Lynn Joost Professional networking is becoming even more popular and commonplace thanks to the help of social media. There are now many ways to connect with industry peers and people who share common interests through LinkedIn, Facebook [...]

Forget everything you know about numbers. With social media, measuring success through figures or hard data often creates false benchmarks that do not speak to whether a brand’s message is actually resonating with its audience. All too often, [...]

Nearly every company wants to describe themselves as innovative. In a perfect world, each brand would have a unique offering that doesn’t simply improve the landscape for their industry, but rather revolutionizes it. Unfortunately, if a [...]

When is a sentence not a sentence? When it’s a fragment (such as this one), a comma splice, or a run-on sentence. This is basic stuff that we all learned in elementary school, but it’s often helpful to revisit the basics. A sentence [...]

As any artist will undoubtedly tell you, nothing is unintentional. There is a clear, defined purpose for the inclusion of a random color or a dramatic shift in a musical arrangement. And while the final result might often be a mystery to us, to the [...]

Saying that communications is a two-way street is one thing, but actually practicing it is another. A brand’s ROI is no longer about return on investment, but rather, return on influence. While media impressions were once the benchmarks of a [...]

It’s likely that by now, you’ve heard of Pinterest, a social site that allows users to create virtual pin boards and share them with their followers. It's gaining popularity mostly among the female demographic (according to ZDNet, 58% of [...]

When the Public Relations Society of America set out to redefine PR, it was an admirable endeavor that looked to modernize the definition to reflect the changing, and increasingly social, media landscape. However, since PR is an organic process, [...]

Note: There seems to be a lot of discrepancy about the 'right' way to handle personal and professional social profiles online. You may have asked yourself if you should manage two separate profiles (one for your personal life and one strictly for [...]

Completing my senior year in college was always a milestone I looked forward to reaching, but now that I’m nearing the finishline I have reflected on all the opportunities I passed up during my college years. Chances are you probably [...]

Your brand is what defines you as a company and influences how you are perceived by your stakeholders. But building a brand, similar to building a house, is an evolving process that doesn’t happen overnight. Just as an unexpected storm can [...]

We live in an increasingly viral world. Information is consumed and spread at an unprecedented rate, and the new media landscape has spread the online influence between traditional media and “citizen journalists.”  In a sense, [...]

Public relations and marketing have long been the communications channels for financial firms to connect with key stakeholders. However, the landscape, as well as the definition of “influencers” has changed, requiring companies to [...]

You’ve seen them in newspapers, magazines, in stores and online. They can be placed on business cards, on menus, even in television commercials. You know what I’m talking about: the black and white square that looks like a barcode. What [...]

We recently read a great blog post on Talent Zoo that explains the importance and benefits of using online video. The author brings up some excellent points about staying ahead of the game in a competitive business world. Online video may become an [...]

Try to remember how you last spent your free time online. Did you visit your friend’s Facebook page? Did you research homes  for sale? Maybe you watched the latest news. It is likely that no matter what  you did, you stumbled upon at [...]

In today’s fast-paced world, staying on top of the latest innovations is key. Everyone has a website, but what can you do to make sure yours stands out from the crowd? Creating unique and optimized online video content increases your chances [...]

LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. Though keeping up with the latest social media and social networking trends can feel like a never-ending game of catch up, financial advisors and other financial professionals who understand how their clients use [...]

When Christian Lopez caught Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit, he became the talk of the sports world. Suddenly everyone from shock jocks to cable news anchors wanted a piece of his story. As the world turned to Christian, Christian turned to JCPR for [...]

Technology has changed the media landscape. Publications that were once restricted by page counts now have the unlimited expanse of the Internet to publish articles that inform and enlighten their readers. As a result, media outlets are seeking [...]

As the director of operations at a successful, growing PR and marketing communications firm, I read a lot of resumes of professionals (from entry level to seasoned pros). I find that going through hundreds of resumes can take time, so  remember [...]

Many people in the financial services industry have considered writing books.  Having a book published can provide huge benefits for an individual or a business: they help establish credibility and create publicity, branding, and marketing [...]

Having worked in the publishing industry for over a decade, I’ve had a fair number of people tell me, “I want to write a book.”  I congratulate them on embarking on this exciting project and they inevitably ask me, [...]

I’ve learned a lot during my seven years of blogging. Online Marketing Blog has received a lot of praise recently, but more important, my experience with reviewing others’ blogs has been a learning experience. I’ve looked at [...]

When I first started learning about and researching social media and its many tools, it was difficult to find a place where I could learn everything I needed to know-- and in a way that is easy to understand. YouTube provides a lot of great tutorial [...]

Thought leadership has become such a shopworn concept in the public relations toolkit that it’s in danger of losing its edge. While there is no shortage of self-styled “experts,” developing true thought leadership is about more [...]

In reading news of the coming insider-trading trial of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam, we’re reminded of the critical importance of reputation management, particularly in the financial industry. According to The Wall Street Journal, the [...]

According to some theorists, reality is composed of information – not matter. What does this mean for businesses seeking to thrive, and communicate, in an information age? A recent book review in The Wall Street Journal (“Little Bits Go [...]

Twitter has many benefits and tools to offer businesses, like expanding your clientele, networking and promoting your company’s special offers and news.  But what are some of the “dangers” of Twitter? Recently, Chrysler, [...]

Everyone from Barack Obama to your local pizzeria has a Twitter account these days.  But what are the benefits of having a Twitter account, and how do you actually use Twitter? A little background: Twitter started as a means for an individual [...]

An Editorial What? Many print media outlets provide an editorial calendar, which outlines topics that will be covered in upcoming calendar months. Some publications will articulate special features for the month and regular columns that will appear [...]

If you are currently enrolled in public relations courses at your school, you have already taken the first step in launching a successful career in PR— and getting to know the basics is key! This applies to business/marketing, journalism [...]

Anyone who has a passing familiarity with email, blog platforms and online communities probably reads and writes more words per day than our grade school grammar teachers could have ever imagined. But with no one to mark up our run-on sentences [...]

The hardest assignments writers tackle are almost always the shortest. Brevity is not just the soul of wit – it’s essential to clear communication. Unfortunately, getting a point across concisely is not as easy as it looks.

Just like newspaper headlines and email subjects, microblogging is short, sweet and to the point. This movement often means having to fit “what’s on our mind?” in just 140 characters.

Since microblogging has become an increasingly prevalent way for both publications and clients to share information, I'd like to share this article with three new ways to get information out more efficiently and easily.

Billions of emails are sent every day. Public Relations professionals only get one chance to make a first email impression with busy reporters, so make it a good one! An April 2008 a USA Today article cited ComScore Media Metrix figures for [...]

I would like to start a discussion regarding the recent incidents that followed the Grammy’s this past Sunday night. When relatively unknown jazz artist Esperanza Spalding won the best new artist award over fan-favorite Justin Bieber, his [...]

As a society, whether we like it or not, we have reached a point where websites are a part of everyday life when it comes to smart business. Years ago a reception area and receptionist was thought of as “the face of the company”. Today that has [...]

Earlier this week, I participated in a webinar presented by PR News, “Facebook Essentials: Leveraging the Latest Features for PR Success”. During the hour and a half long webinar, in which we heard from three presenters with differing [...]

In an unexpected move on Super Bowl Sunday, AOL and Huffington Post have signed an agreement to merge. Announced early Monday, AOL will be acquiring Huffington Post, which was co-founded in 2005 by Arianna Huffington, and attracts nearly 25 million [...]

One of the biggest challenges that businesses can face is negative media coverage. Bad publicity is a stressful and often even emotional experience--not to mention a critical communications event. The worst, and most common, mistake that companies [...]