[caption id="attachment_3172" align="alignleft" width="150"] Acquiring distress assets[/caption]

How Second-movers Can Identify When a Failing Business Venture Merits Investment? For the aware and open-minded entrepreneur eyeing the purchase of distressed assets, it is critical to identify and understand the factors behind the target company’s demise. Due diligence can solve the riddle as to why a company failed, and provide answers to questions such as:

  Public relations agencies and teams, says Paula Bernier, must 1) address artificial intelligence and machine learning; 2) influencer marketing; and 3) focus on millennials. Sarab Kochhar, director of applied research for the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida, writes that, “Researchers and practitioners in the field of public relations should explore how AI and ML are helping organizations automate campaigns and create new and stronger connections with customers leading to hyper- personalized experiences,” in the report “Top Three Trends That Will Drive Public Relations Research in 2017.”

As Kochhar mentions, influencer marketing is another trend impacting businesses, consumers, marketing, and public relations. Influencer marketing is important because influential individuals can help or harm a company’s brand, can greatly increase brand awareness, and can even drive conversions.

“Wharton Marketing Professor David Bell says that brands looking to create a presence in the digital space quickly realize that the way to get to their audience is through...

BALTIMORE, MD - (Jan 18, 2017) -  JMRConnect (www.jmrconnect.net), a multinational public relations (PR), corporate and influencer communications agency, today announced that The Holmes' Report has named it a 2017 North American In2 SABRE Awards finalist in four categories: Best Agency Disruption; Corporate/B2B; Employee Engagement; and Marketing Technology. The nominations reflect the effectiveness and utility of JMRConnect CEI (connect. engage. influence.), the agency's social engagement, employee advocacy and content marketing platform, as well as the results achieved by JMRConnect client, Yorktel.

Through CEI, companies can empower their biggest supporters to act as word-of-mouth brand ambassadors; content is sent directly to them through CEI and they share with the click of a button. CEI is customizable and user-friendly, and enables PR and marketing to engage employees, activate them as brand advocates, organically augment the credibility and visibility of content, and push approved corporate messaging to employees for multi-channel socialization to wider population. Read More »

 

  Most companies that operate contact centers acknowledge the importance of enabling customers to contact them via multiple channels. Yet, a large number of these same companies use separate contact center and UC platforms and providers, which leads to communication silos among their channels. In a recent study conducted by Nemertes Research, for example, only 16% of those surveyed indicated they were currently integrating their communication channels. And, while 24% said they had plans to unify communications in the future, 60% had no plans. Not surprisingly, the minority of companies that already had a unified communications (UC) strategy in place enjoyed several benefits, including:

 

For those not familiar with converged infrastructure, it’s important to understand that it is not a technology. Rather, it is an approach to data center management that seeks to minimize complexity and compatibility issues among servers, storage systems and network devices while reducing infrastructure costs and the overall foot print.

Recently, Business Solutions' editor, Mike Monocello, spoke with Travis Sales, president of Breakthrough Technology Group, LLC., a provider of secure private cloud, connectivity, and managed IT solutions. With more than 20 years’ experience and expertise in virtualization technologies, Sales was the perfect candidate to answer his converged infrastructure questions. Click here to read Travis' insight on why data center growth is driving demand for converged infrastructure, and how BTG helps clients and MSPs capitalize on its many benefits.

 

 In a recent Shaping Influence article, Paula Bernier explains a bit about the importance of engagement. Why have the faces of anonymous models on the covers of magazines and in TV commercials been replaced with those of celebrities, musicians and supermodels? The answer is influence.

Style makers from the big (meaning movie) and small (now including computer and smartphone as well as TV) screens can, of course, be actresses and singers, as well as the kid down the block or a popular blogger. Indeed, the internet has democratized the world of communications and influence. But the fact remains that there are still some people who are able to draw a (physical and/or virtual) crowd and impact the decision making of those around them.

These individuals have come to be known as influencers. And these influencers are shaking up the worlds of advertising and marketing.

Influencer marketing is the fastest-growing online customer acquisition channel of those marketers polled by Tomoson, which estimates that businesses make $6.50 for every dollar they spend on influencer marketing.  About 40 percent of those polled by analytics company Annalect and Twitter said they've purchased an item online after seeing it used by an influencer on Instagram, Twitter, Vine or YouTube. And Digital Visitor says influencer marketing has become an essential part of the strategies in the fashion, hospitality, retail and travel sectors.

Anthony Rawlins, managing director for Digital Visitor, in a recent report noted that a Google study from 2014 indicates the internet is the clear leader in inspiring leisure travel decisions, while TV follows as a distant second. Yet, he added, it can be difficult to track the impact of influencer marketing due to a lack of industry standards of measurement related to it.  However, Rawlins said that organizations with an interest in engaging with influencers in an effort to promote their products might consider inviting these individuals to participate in themed experiences. For example, he suggested, a business could invite an influencer and his or her mother to be part of a Mother’s Day event or promotion. Twitter Chats are another means of connecting with influencers and their followers...continue reading

Mostafa Razzak, JMRConnect's Principal talks with Jennifer Schiff about business strategies for social media engagement.

“Keep your finger on the pulse of industry-specific conversations and engage with thoughtful questions and helpful answers,” says Mostafa Razzak, principal, JMRConnect, a public relations & influencer communications company. “Do not patronize or waste people’s time by stating the obvious or making comments that show you haven’t paid attention to what they’ve written or the message they’re trying to convey.” CLICK HERE to read the full article and insights from other industry experts.

 Redmond Channel Partner's Scott Bekker takes a look at the impact of cloud on the Microsoft Managed Service Provider Community. MSPAlliance CEO, Charles Weaver, commented that, "We're seeing a lot of MSPs get into things like identity and access management, a service line that would have been really rare 10 to 15 years ago. But today with cloud that's a very hot growth sector." Click here to read the full story.

“Influencer Communications,” or “Influencer Engagement” is more than a buzzword; it’s a formula that combines multi-channel advocacy, content and social marketing with "traditional" public relations and corporate communications. From analysts and media to customers, employees and partners, the types of influencers — and ways they’re in which they’re engaged — vary, and are what make this method unique. Check out my latest post on Shaping Influence for insight on identifying influencers, engaging and quantifying success. Click here >>>

 The latest installment in Shaping Influence sheds light on some very interesting data. Findings from Collective Bias's Time on Content feature, which offers a key indicator as to the relevancy of influencer content, consumers view their influencer content for an average duration of two minutes and eight seconds—almost seven times longer than the digital display ad average of 19.2 seconds based on viewability standards measured by Moat Analytics. Click here to read more on this compelling report >>>

 The IMA announced the launch of its Mid-Atlantic Chapter, and the appointment of JMRConnect Principal, Mostafa Razzak as the Region’s Chairman and Executive Director. With more than 1,000,000 professional members worldwide, the Internet Marketing Association is the industry’s fastest growing organization. The IMA Mid-Atlantic Group will serve as an open platform for business and economic development; education and skills training; and as an interactive forum through which to network, share best practices and collaborate. Click here to continue >>>