-Katie Hanusik
* Can you give us a quick overview on Edison and the kinds of tech companies you’re investing in these days?
For the last 21 years, B2B software investments have been our mainstay -- starting with Best Software in 1986 (incidentally, this deal remains the firm’s biggest winner with a 25x return). We’ve started to look at companies outside of B2B, companies like Neat Receipts (scanning and software solutions) and PlumChoice (online technical support for the home and small business). We’re also a long-time investor in financial services I.T. with companies like GAIN Capital (online foreign exchange platform), CorrectNet (investor and client reporting for asset managers) and Scivantage (enables financial transactions and online trading).
The common denominator with all our investments is a focus on new markets, growth markets and under-automated markets. We’re looking for that needle in a haystack.
* How is the economic downturn affecting the venture capital and entrepreneurial communities?
Though we’re seeing strong deal-flow right now, we’re anticipating a quieter year this year for our portfolio companies that target the financial services industry. We’re working to get term sheets out quickly, though we’re not at a point where we’re making a lot of concessions. We’re choosy about the companies we work with, but if we can’t come to some sort of agreement, we move on. We’re also seeing plenty of companies that need to do a little more work before we’d consider investing. We’re waiting to see if they can make progress in this economic climate.
* What is your take on the vibrancy of the DC entrepreneurial community? How will AOL’s leaving affect that community?
I’ve never been more optimistic about the D.C. region than I am now. Former executives from AOL, UUNet and MCI continue to make their stamp on the region. The biotech industry is blossoming and is attracting executives from other parts of the country. Microstrategy is another spawning-ground firm spinning off companies like Appian and Clarabridge. Finally, we have a strong heritage in this region working with the biggest enterprise customer – the U.S. government.
* We're seeing an increase in the number of social media companies in the D.C. area -- are you or are local VCs considering these deals? How do you feel about the advertising business model?
One of our partners, Joe Allegra, has been looking at social media companies, and we’ve probably had presentations from two to three of them. The big question… how do you monetize these companies? Most of them have very little revenue. If the West Coast VCs have success stories with social media companies – and obviously they do with YouTube and Facebook – they are more likely to invest, rather than anybody out here.
* Are there specific sectors or types of technologies in which you are keenly interested?
I spend my time focused on the government and telecom sectors. Edison did very well on an initial investment with BDS (which merged with BTG, then went public in 1992). That deal resulted in a 6x return, one of the bigger returns for government deals – but Edison hasn’t done a singe government deal since. After several years looking at government technology providers, we’re starting to zero in on some strong opportunities – I have three term sheets out right now. We’re looking for industry leaders that can sell globally. People view government as cheap and slow to upgrade, but I think there’s an element of automation that all enterprises welcome.
* What advice can you share for technology CEOs and marketing professionals, in managing through these tough times?
CEOs should be visible and recognized as a leader in their niche. If they don’t feel comfortable in that role, then they need to be willing to pass the mantle to someone else on the executive team. It’s also critical that executives focus on identifying differentiators. Overall, my advice to CMOs is to get on the Web and look for ways to automate lead generation. Whether you’re selling to the enterprise or to small businesses, you need to make it easy for people to find you.
Consider Regent Education, based in Frederick. Regent had one tired competitor and the market hadn’t seen a new product in 20 years. With our investment, Regent was able to transition their product from COBOL to a JAVA platform and introduce the industry’s first web-based financial aid management solution. Within just a few months, the market started to take notice. Earlier this year, Regent was recognized as “Firm of the Year” by the Tech Council of Maryland and was a finalist for the CODiE Awards (the only peer-reviewed product award in the software industry). I like the fun of zeroing in on a market and knowing that if we just execute, we could catch their competitors napping. That still gets me charged.
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Meet the Influencers – Rene Salas, Program Director, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year, Greater Washington Region
Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the world’s most prestigious business awards for entrepreneurs. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs.
Each year several SpeakerBox clients participate in the process and labor over their award submissions. We were delighted to sit down with Rene Salas, the program director for the Greater Washington Region to get some insight on the regional process...
- Katie Hanusik
* What makes the Entrepreneur of the Year award different from other award programs?
This is the only entrepreneurial awards program that takes place on 6 continents and in over 50 countries. Unlike any other awards banquet, this is a year-long and worldwide program. Many awards programs base their winners solely on financial performance. 9 out of 10 times you can take a look at the financials of a company and know who will win. That is not the case with EOY. This program considers the entrepreneur and his or her story first. The company's success and financial performance are secondary. That makes this program especially difficult to judge, since there is such a qualitative aspect. It also makes it that much more interesting!
* What is the evaluation process? How many stages are there (e.g preliminary, finalist) and how many people qualify at each stage?
An independent panel of judges is assembled to select the pre-finalists, finalists, and award winners. We have a panel of 7 judges representing various industries and experiences - venture capitalists, CEOs, Board Members, former winners. They bring a depth of experience that is unmatched and they really understand the process because so many of them have sat in those entrepreneur's seats. The judges are limited to a three-year term, to ensure there are always new insights brought to the process.
There are several stages to the program. All nominees are considered. Then some are chosen to receive an onsite interview as part of the due diligence process. After that, Finalists are announced. Lastly, after interviewing the pool of Finalists, the judges will select one winner in each of the 7-8 categories.
These 7-8 regional winners move on to compete at the National level in Palm Springs in November. There, 10 award winners are announced, and one winner is selected overall to represent the US in the World competition in Monte Carlo the following May.
* Can you share any insight into the judging? The nomination form references: financial performance, innovation, leadership, integrity, community involvement. Are these factors equally weighted - or is one significantly more important?
Our judges consider first and foremost the story of the entrepreneur. They want to hear the magic of the nominee's story including the highs and lows, risks and opportunities they have experienced to get where they are today. They want to know what motivates them and how their product or service is enhancing lives. Some important characteristics include innovation, integrity, strategic direction, and unique characteristics that set them apart from the competition. Also, you can't achieve success by yourself. How these entrepreneurs motivate their colleagues and employees is equally important to the judging process. Lastly, I've noticed our regional judges do like to see that these C-level executives are investing in their local community by demonstrating corporate social responsibility.
* How are the categories determined?
Judges have complete discretion over the categories. Generally speaking, categories are aligned by industry. However, the judges have the right to make up their own categories on the regional level. So, we might see a "Social Entrepreneur Of The Year" or an "Emerging" category. They vary from year to year. The judges will usually select the top 7-8 entrepreneurial stories as the winners and determine the finalist categories around those people. This prevents there being two great candidates in one category and none in another. They take the 7 or 8 best, instead of the best one from each category.
* What advice would you give to future applicants? How can they best position themselves for success? Should they be nominated by someone else? How important are references? How important is packaging (a big binder full of testimonials/media clips as compared to an online application)?
I would say that this is not the time to be modest. You've worked long hours and took many risks to get to where you are today. This is a forum to be recognized among some of the best and most innovative business people in the world. Don't hold back on sharing the trials and tribulations or the victories. It is also important to position yourself in the same way you market your business - unique.
In my experience the nominator does not make a difference to our judges. Submitting an application online definitely streamlines the process. 98% of our nominations for this year were submitted online. Media hits can easily be uploaded if they are helpful in making a case. We receive so many applications that the more we can streamline them for the judges, the happier everyone is. The judges are not interested in the quality of your PR materials, they are interested in hearing your story.
* Realistically, how should an applicant decide if they're ready for an award of this caliber? Are there thresholds in any of the categories that an applicant should consider (especially related to financial performance)?
We have many entrepreneurs submit nominations for several years in a row. The opportunity for networking is significant. We have been told that Entrepreneur Of The Year contributes to employee morale, and I think people just have fun with this process. Generally speaking this program recognizes high growth companies and the entrepreneurs who lead them. Both private and public companies compete in the program. Sometimes if a company is going to go public, we might suggest waiting one more year, but as I said, it is also beneficial for the nominee to get their feet wet by participating and understanding the process first. If you've had a couple of particularly successful years of growth, coupled with a comeback story you're a good candidate for this program.
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The press release has been often marked for death (most notably by Tom Foremski) and resurrected through design (by Todd Defren of SHIFT Communications), but the fact remains that it is still a viable way for companies to get their news out to the general public. The means of pushing these announcements, however, have changed drastically.
Search engines and social media rule the Internet, so it’s up to PR professionals to make sure that potential customers are finding their companies and products through the information maelstrom. How do PR pros do this? By optimizing their press releases with keywords.
Keywords are specific words or phrases that customers use to find certain products, services or companies and are the driving force behind search engine optimization and relevance in the online community. PR teams need to closely examine their current websites and marketing materials, and determine what terms are popping up the most. This becomes a great starting point for a SEO strategy.
Analysis tools are also a good solution to help in a keyword analysis, with some of the more popular being:
- Google AdWords Keyword Tool – Designed with advertising campaigns in mind, Google’s solution is a keyword relevance tool that determines what terms or phrases are being searched for the most.
- Wordtracker – offers a free trial but is pay-to-use
- KeywordRemix – Similar to Google’s Keyword Tool, KeywordRemix provides a holistic view of targeted words and phrases
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(Image Credit: Twitter)
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve always bit a tad skeptical of Twitter, the social networking/micro-blogging site that allows users to send updates or “tweets” to a network of followers on Twitter’s website. I’m not sure if it’s the 140-character limit or the name Twitter (I, without fail, think of Tweety Bird every time someone mentions Twitter. Even now I’m thinking “I tawt I taw a puddy tat”.), but I’ve never been fully on the Twitter bandwagon. I’ve always thought it was interesting and somewhat cool but it also seemed to be void of real content – after all, how much can you really say in 140 characters? Plenty, it turns out.
Earlier this month a Cal-Berkeley grad student studying in Egypt used Twitter to help him secure a release from an Egyptian prison. James Karl Buck Twittered the word “arrested” from his cell phone as he was taken to a police station following an anti-government protest. Buck was covering the protest, which he had found out about through Twitter, as part of his multimedia thesis project on Egypt’s “new leftists and the blogosphere.” As the protest turned violent, Buck and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested even though they were attempting to stay away from heart of the dangerous scene.
Buck’s simple message – initially written so that people would know he had not disappeared - caught the attention of several of his friends, one of whom wrote about Buck’s arrest and detainment on his blog. While in prison, Buck sent Tweets every few hours to update contacts on his status, noting he had seen a prosecutor and no charges would be filed. Within 24 hours, Buck’s school hired a lawyer and the student was freed. The status of his translator, from whom he was separated is unknown, but Buck is now telling his story through Twitter and other avenues, in the hopes of helping his friend. It would be hard not become a Twitter convert after hearing this remarkable story. Buck needed just eight letters to get his message out there, demonstrating just how powerful one word can be. So while I’ll probably still think of Tweety Bird when I think of Twitter, I’ll also think of how it helped one man to freedom and how powerful a social network can be.
-Jennifer Becker
TAGS: Twitter
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Two weeks ago, I caught TEKgroup's 2008 Online Newsroom Survey results. You have to register to see the full results, but TEKgroup's press release shares some of the results from the survey of more than 400 journalists:
* "Not surprisingly, the use of audio and video recordings within an organization’s online newsroom escalated this year. Although audio files are still considered by only 61% of journalists surveyed to be important at some level, the percentage reflects a jump of 16% from last year’s survey."
* "The overall importance of viewing video files increased by 15%, and accounted for 71% of journalists who participated in the survey."
* "New to the survey were questions regarding the importance of accessing company background (97%), registering for media credentials (79%), and submitting an information request form (88%)."
Seeing the survey results brought to mind an important topic we frequently discuss with clients: what are the essential elements for your organization's online newsroom? In no particular order of importance, my essentials are below.
* News: Perhaps an obvious element to include, but I've seen too many organizations forget to update their sites when they release news to not mention it here. Its also important to think about whether all of your organization's news is 'wire' worthy. SpeakerBox client Red Hat does a good job distinguishing which announcements are appropriate for an official press release vs. placement on the company's news blog. A news blog can be just as effective as a wire release if you turn your core journalists to the blog for more frequent news, and with effective pitching. Each announcement (both releases and blog entries) should also be available by permalink.
* Media Coverage: Include an archive of your recent media coverage with links to that coverage.
* In the words of Rohit Bhargava at the Influential Marketing Blog, "Help your content travel": Don't expect that all of your site's visitors will want to receive your content in the same way, so give them options that encourage them to save and share your content in a way that suits their needs. I recommend options to save press releases, blog entries and recent media coverage (as a PDF and via social bookmark sites like del.icio.us) or share it (via e-mail or sites like Technorati or Twitter. One of the best add-ons I've seen that encourages content sharing is bookmarking and sharing button AddThis.) You should also provide RSS feeds for each area on the newsroom, as well as a feed that provides updates for the entire page. Bhargava said it best: "When you have content that can be portable ...submitting them to relevant sites will help your content travel further, and ultimately drive links back to your site."
* Multimedia Content: As the TEKgroup survey indicated, journalists want to see multimedia content available via the online newsroom. Include high resolution images (including logos, executive head shots, product images, etc.), embeddable videos and audio files.
* Background information: Include executive biographies, backgrounders on company history and products.
* Upcoming Events: Let visitors know where your executives will be speaking or exhibiting.
* Search: Archives of corporate news, media coverage, executive information and events can be difficult to navigate. Offer search tools that gives visitors the option to quickly search the contents of the full site and only the contents of your newsroom.
* Contact Information: Make it as simple as possible for media to request more information or interviews. Include contact information for a real person, not just an online form.
Are there other items you'd include on your list of essentials? Let me know below!
-Stephanie Stadler
TAGS: online newsroom, pressroom, public relations
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Many times when a company embarks on a public relations campaign they forget about their most important public – their employees. Almost every company Web site states, “our people are our greatest asset.” Most companies write this to mean, “without the innovation or dedication of our employees we would not have the product or service we offer.” What many companies fail to see is the importance of employees as brand ambassadors. They see that a bulk of new hires come from referrals and small companies recognize that early sales come from the existing personal relationships of employees, but yet they do nothing to empower employees to become true ambassadors for the company.
Empowering your employees to become brand ambassadors through internal communications does not require setting up an entirely new program; it can simply be done by repurposing the content you are delivering to audiences outside of the company. A quick aside – brand ambassadors are most effective when they truly understand and buy in to the corporate mission and messages…but that is a whole other blog post…Back to arming your employees with the tools they need...
Perhaps the easiest PR tool to repurpose is the press release. Do your employees know when you release news? Similarly, are they aware of major articles appearing in the media? Getting the word out about news internally can be as simple as an all-hands email or a quick re-write of the press release into more of a news story for publication in an employee newsletter or blog. If you do not already publish an employee newsletter or blog, perhaps it is time to start one.
If you can’t find the time or resources to launch a newsletter or blog, an often overlooked resource for reaching employees is the corporate Intranet. Many times these sites are simply portals to timesheets and other administrative services. Take a look at your site – can it be formatted so that corporate news (including press releases, recent promotions, new hires, corporate event announcements, etc…) appears on the homepage?
In addition to press releases, look at other stories floating around your company. One gripe of PR people everywhere is, “I have great customer stories, but my customers don’t want to do a press release or talk to the media.” Take a look at these stories and see if you can share them with employees to give some insight into what other parts of the company are doing. Write up these stories for newsletter and Intranet posting.
These are just a few small steps you can take to make sure your most important public is part of your public relations program.
- Piper Conrad
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For several years, Phil Rabin and I published an e-mail newsletter known as the DC Communicator. We were somewhat of a pre-blog rag that covered news, events and happening around the greater Washington D.C. area in public relations, advertising and marketing. When I joined SpeakerBox Communications in August 2007, I left my publisher title of the DC Communicator behind with my previous firm, EFX Media.
It has proven too hard to leave a good thing behind, so as a result, Phil and I have spent the last six months working on the next generation of a communications community for the greater Washington community. Last Thursday we had the premier launch of the Capitol Communicator. The Capitol Communicator provides news and networking for communications professionals within the capital corridor. Our initial launch gave us a chance to test some new technology and tools that will make us a very unique communications community. From our successful launch to over 11,000 communications professionals in the region, we are gathering the metrics that will help us to determine the scope of the platform that we will formally roll out in May 2008.
One feature of the site is a series of interviews with various D.C. area communicators on their visions of the most important trends and issues currently facing our industry. You'll see an introduction from Phil and me, comments from Matt Goodard (R2integrated), Karen Riordan (Arnold Worldwide), Cary Hatch (MDB Communications) and Jeff Weingarten (Interface Media Group). Also, check out our ADDY 2008 coverage video.
-Paul Duning
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Much has been made in the PR industry of the so-called “death of the press release” but what I’ve seen from many of my clients at SBX is not an abandonment of the press release, but rather a new way of thinking about them. Instead of crafting the traditional, buzzword-laden release, most savvy marketers and PR people are using the press release (or “news release” as several of my college professors insisted we call it so as not to leave out those in broadcast and radio) to help with SEO. Releases are doing double duty by both spreading the word about a specific news item and associating your company and its products/services with relevant industry keywords.
While the idea of press release optimization has been around for a few years, it is just now starting to be fully embraced by many. So here are my lucky seven tips for press release optimization:
• Choose your keywords wisely. These words are one of the quickest ways to associate your company with key industry phrases. This is not the time to be cutesy or creative – stick with words and phrases people are actually searching for. Check out tools like Wordtracker.com or Google AdWord's Keyword Tool to see what searchers are looking for.
• Put your primary keywords (e.g. company, product or executive name) in the title and first paragraph. Clever headlines that “tease” the reader might be fun to write but they do nothing for SEO.
• Use keywords an appropriate amount of times throughout the release. Typically, 2-3 mentions per keyword is considered enough for optimization; anything more that that will sound awkwardly written and overly repetitive. Check out Katie’s January 10th post on Plugged In for some more info on keywords and their usage.
• When possible substitute keywords for pronouns. For example, instead of “Its capabilities include time travel, x-ray vision and mind reading” say “The Awesomenator’s capabilities include…”.
• Familiarize yourself with the wire services (BusinessWire, Marketwire, PRWeb, PR Newswire) and their SEO features. What’s right for one company might not be right for another so take the time to research pricing and SEO-friendly options.
• Add multimedia content if you have it. Not every company has YouTube videos, podcasts or cool images but if you do, this is the place to flaunt it.
• Last and possibly more important, add links. Link to your homepage on your company’s first reference and then link to relevant pages on your website or create special landing pages for the release. Links make the release interactive and are an easy way to drive traffic to your site for readers to learn more. Be sure to include the almost-quaint "http://" as some systems will not recognize a link without this preface.
- Jennifer Becker
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Below is the long-awaited (well, by some at least) third installment of our Meet the Influencers feature here on The Sounding Board Blog. We're posting Q&A's with industry influencers every few weeks, so keep checking back for more insight right from reporters and analysts themselves. If you have a question you'd like answered or influencer you'd like insight on, let us know and we'll do our best to get some answers. Today’s influencer Q&A is with Maria Trombly, a freelancer for Securities Industry News and other SourceMedia publications and the owner of Trombly Ltd., a Shanghai-based provider of outsourced China bureau services to United States business magazines.
-Jennifer Becker
A lot of your writing focuses on the use of technology in the financial services industry. Those are two very technical and complicated industries – how do you get a handle on the topics you write about without losing your readers? (is it sources, research, experience or some sort of combo thereof?)
When I first started covering financial technology for Computerworld... oh, about eight years ago ... I read every general business tech pub I could find. BusinessWeek and Fortune were my favorites then (and still are now) but I also loved Business 2.0 and Industry Standard. Their whole point was to explain technology in a clear and accessible way. I tried to absorb as much of that style as I could.
I also had great editors at Computerworld. Whenever they came across a piece of tech jargon or gobbeldygook, they would kick it right back to me for rewriting. Sometimes, if I was quoting an official company statement, I wouldn't even know what something I was writing meant. This was usually an indication that I needed to call someone back and ask more questions.
Sometimes, the technology is really difficult to figure out. For example, I was one of the first people to write about Web services -- I did a tech "quick study" on this for Computerworld way way back. For this story, I called all the major vendors -- IBM, Microsoft, Sun -- and a bunch of smaller ones and asked them all to explain what this was and how it worked. I happened to be at my mother's house when I was writing the story, so I explained web services to her. After a few tries at this, I finally got my head around it enough to explain it to her -- and to myself. And this wasn't easy -- my mother is a Russian immigrant with bad English skills who never uses computers!
A common practice for me when dealing with difficult technology issues is to get the vendors' salespeople to explain the technology, then I'd call the users and ask them if it actually worked and get the business side of it.
That usually provides a good tech vs. business balance to stories. Throw in a couple of analysts, and you've got all the bases covered.
You've been freelancing for several years – what is it about freelancing that appeals to you? What are the downsides? How does being overseas affect your work?
I started freelancing because my husband and switched off the household stuff and it was my turn. When I was at Computerworld, I was on the road a lot and worked long hours. As a freelancer, I worked fewer hours, made more money, and only traveled to New York or Boston -- day trips.
Given the whole more money, less work thing, going back to a staff job never made much sense, even after my kids were older, though I do miss being in an office.
In 2006, I incorporated, and started hiring staff. Today, I have employees in China, India, Philippines, and Europe and the company is growing quickly.
I noticed you have advice for PR people pitching you on your website – do you find people follow that advice? What's your view of the PR-journalist relationship?
After the dot-com bust, there was a lot of consolidation in the industry -- and the flakier PR people got out of the business. I rarely see wildly inappropriate pitches anymore, or PR people hounding my every move. There's a strip in Dilbert where a company decides it's PR strategy is going to be to have employees grab onto the legs of tech journalists. For a while, it really felt that way! Phones were ringing off the hook with people pitching story ideas, I would get weird stuff in the mail, people were offering me junkets. It was a little insane.
Today, most of the pitches I get seem to be relevant, and decently written -- though I still see the use of the words "end to end" and "solution" a little bit too much and press releases clearly written by dysfunctional committees.
For the most part, PR people do a good job setting me up with sources, background information, and photographs. I'm still seeing snapshots of executives instead of real photographs - please, someone, take the digital cameras away from those people.
The worst part of the journalist-PR relationship is when you get a bitter ex-journalist on the other side. Normally, PR people are cheerful and helpful, so it's hard for a cynical, sarcastic journalist to do anyway. But if the ex-journalist is bitter on top of it -- say, because he lost his job in the dot-com meltdown -- then it's a nightmare. The first thing they do is tell you that they used to be a journalist, so they know what they need. Then maybe they'll reminisce, or complain about their new company. Then they disappear and you never hear from then again. Maybe they're drowning their sorrows at the local bar.
Anyway, those bitter ex-journos seem to be gone. Either they got therapy and have become adjusted to their new jobs, or are on Prozac, or were laid off for their bad attitudes. Or maybe they just started to enjoy their higher salaries, better hours, and nicer working conditions and stopped being bitter. A friend of mine just switched from heading up a news bureau here in Shanghai to handling PR for a major international bank because he and his wife had a baby -- and he tripled his salary overnight. It's not too bad. He doesn't seem bitter at all. :-)
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We seem to always be in some phase of engagement around a product launch around here. For many of our enterprise technology clients, product announcements are the cornerstone of each company’s ability to make trade news during the calendar year. Proactive outreach around trends and customers provide additional and more regular opportunity for validation and expert status, but product news coverage is the rare time when the vendor gets the spotlight.
If you are in the process for preparing for a launch, I thought I’d offer a few musings on things that may be less pro-forma in terms of approach.
I imagine that journalists are thanking higher powers that SEO has become increasingly important to marketing strategies. When it comes to product announcements, for years, companies have been chastised by reporters for “best-of-breed, cutting-edge and state-of-the-art” announcements (see Stephanie’s February 25th post). SEO has given companies pause to stop and articulate what, in layman’s terms, is new and different about their products. If SEO is a priority for you, it will be important to assess what key words your prospects will be searching when looking for your solutions and make sure that they are optimized in your release. Journalists have long begged “just the facts, please” and finally search is backing them up.
Influencers are everywhere. It no longer suffices to only focus on print and online publication coverage when it comes to product news. As evidence, last spring, SpeakerBox was working with a client on a product news campaign. The push resulted in coverage in their target pubs, which was great, but it turns out that the coverage that generated the most traffic to their Web site came through a personal/industry blog that was actually penned by an individual who works for a larger, competitor company. It underscores the importance of taking time on the front end to determine who your customers and prospects turn to online (and otherwise) for third-party validation and making efforts to build those relationships.
For interim product announcements (minor upgrades), consider using your corporate blog to spread the word. Our client Red Hat does a great job of this. They understand the balance between the not-too-news worthiness of these types of announcements and the importance of getting the information to their community. This approach gives your user base an opportunity to not only get the news, but interact as well, which may lead to useful feedback and unsolicited customer evangelism.
Product launches and reviews are an on-going process and as with any process, it’s always good to take a step back from time to time and make sure that all bases are covered.
- Lisa Throckmorton
TAGS:
"Product launches", 
SEO, 
Influencers, 
"press release", 
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