What’s New at Topaz

Topaz Continues to Evolve
As Topaz grows, we’re expanding our services and extending our reach. Later in this newsletter, we discuss more new services offered by Topaz including alternatives to traditional PR in the form of online communications and marketing capabilities.

One example of our growth is the addition of new clients. Recent client additions include Australia-based Blackmagic, manufacturers of high quality video cards for the post production and television broadcast industries; Hong Kong-based Cotco, pioneers of LED products; EthicsPoint, developers and administrators of web-based, toll-free reporting systems; Pyxis, provider of software solutions to the investment management industry; and RuleStream, makers of software for automating the build-to-order process across engineering, manufacturing and sales.

To find out about more happenings at Topaz, please visit our newsroom.

Topaz Meets the Press (and Analysts)
The Topaz staff continues to meet with key media to stay current with the publications and industries relevant to our work. Our recent meetings have included Andrew Davis, an analyst with Wainhouse Research; Evan Schwartz (pictured), contributing writer to Technology Review and the author of “The Last Lone Inventor;” and a leading Boston-area radio station.

More on Evan Schwartz: Evan will soon be completing another book named “Juice: The Creative Fuel Driving Today’s World-Class Inventors” which discusses globalization of innovation and process of invention. He shared his book tour presentation with the Topaz staff and gave insights into cultivating and encouraging invention in the workplace. Evan discussed different tactics that nurture this kind of thinking, the difference between innovation and invention, and examples of programs that some companies are adopting to harness the ideas of their employees. To learn more about Evan’s book out this month, click HERE. Topaz is working with Evan to promote his speaking engagement at the Merrimack Valley Venture Forum on November 10.

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The New PR: Buzz Marketing and Online Communications
Online communication is flourishing today, ushering in new venues and forums for companies to communicate with customers, partners, investors, and even competitors. Today’s companies participate in and react to the world in radically new ways. To help our clients navigate the complex process of effectively participating in this rapidly growing online dialogue, Topaz Partners has introduced its new Buzz Marketing and Online Communications services. Greater visibility and expanded business opportunities for clients are the chief benefits of this unique approach to leveraging online communications.

In addition to the web, e-mail and instant messaging, there is a wide variety of additional online communications vehicles to leverage, including Weblogs, Wikis, RSS, User Groups and Chat Rooms and Social Networking and Business Communications. These new online venues and forums allow for direct, real-time contact with various audiences and display a company’s commitment to understanding their marketplace and the users of their products and services. They also serve as interactive two way conversations between audiences with a sense of objectivity and openness, and the ability to immediately gauge the effectiveness of marketing and react to fix any potential misunderstandings.

Topaz Partners can help you navigate the shifting communications landscape by working closely with you to create concurrent programs in traditional public relations and online buzz communications. An integrated mix of traditional PR with a strong online presence can expand your business growth opportunities by raising your visibility among key influencers across the spectrum of media and online communities.

Topaz Partners uses the Buzz Marketing and Online Communication program both actively and passively: to “listen in” on what people are posting, or proactively communicate to key stakeholders and the wider community. We are adept at monitoring vast parts of the Web, and when necessary engaging participants in conversations to further your business goals.

Click HERE to request more information on this topic.
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Picture Power and How to Use It
By: Jim Sulley, director of photography at Newscast

PICTURES are the first thing we notice in a publication - and the last thing we forget. As one observant newspaper reader once remarked, the images in newspapers lived on long after he had lit the fire with them! That is because we gather facts primarily through our eyes, rather than by hearing words, so it is natural for anything visually striking to stick in the mind. A fleet of moving images can be easily forgotten, but a single potent frame can be embedded in the mind’s eye and stand out in our memory.

Just as photographs have an innate power to cast a shadow over the world; they can be inspirational and positive too. Man on the moon, the conquering of Everest and the collapse of the Berlin Wall are powerful Twentieth Century symbols of human endeavor and achievement. These all endure in our minds.

Advertisers have always understood and used the power of good images – as have propagandists throughout history. But PR people seem to be less aware of the potential of visual communication.

PR practitioners primarily think about communicating through text, relegating pictures to an afterthought in their campaigns, if they’ve thought ‘pictures’ at all. Or, if they do commission photography, they spend more time worrying about client perceptions than trusting the photographers’ ideas, or giving a photographer enough time to capture the right image. As a result photography remains an undervalued way of raising corporate awareness.

It is also vital to avoid falling into the trap of trying to advertise or market businesses, products and services in a way that turns picture editors off; or, worse still, by creating an image that can be used time and time again to demonstrate folly.

Ultimately the picture editor is a gatekeeper who looks out for great reportage; an image that tells a story in an instant. That’s what PR people should be aiming to achieve. And even though picture editors see thousands of images a day, pictures that tell a story will stand out from the rest.

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TEN TIPS FOR PICTURE POWER
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• Think beyond the talking heads at a news conference. Create images that are newsworthy.
  
• Create images with shelf life. They can be used again to illustrate other company news, general industry news or lifestyle pieces.
  
• Be creative, not deceptive. Misleading photographs tarnish you and may prevent the media using your pictures in the future.
  
• Don’t over brand photographs; the caption can convey branding. Advertising photos belong in ads.
  
• Make multiple images available so the media can choose images that fit their style. Provide horizontal and vertical shots.
  
• A good image library should be available from a source used by the media. Include executives, product shots and creative editorial feature photos.
  
• Quarterly earnings and big company announcements are opportunities to get images used.
  
• Creative images stick out from the thousands seen daily by picture editors.
  
• Briefing photographers an early stage will lead to more creative work and events.
  
• Use a photographer who specializes in media placement, one who has worked in news and knows what the media want.
  

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PR Tip #1: How to make news when there is no news
Unless a business is a Fortune 100 company and the press waits with anticipation for their every thought, there will be times with no big announcements, no new customers and no new products or improvements. It can be a challenge to generate news when there is a quiet period between major announcements. In fact, it is those major moments that develop momentum for your company and should be used to a company’s advantage in gaining more press coverage, not keeping quiet.

It is recommended that businesses distribute press releases at least 1-2 times per month. It is attractive for companies to look busy, growing and thriving to media, potential partners and business prospects, not to mention, investors. It doesn’t look good to have an out-dated newsroom on a website.

Here are simple ways to keep the coverage flowing:

Read the News - Spend the first hour of every day reading the general news pages and all relevant publications to an industry. Delve into what people are writing about and stay on top of trends. Issues responses and jumping on a new trend only come from knowing the news. Once issues are identified, do web searches to see what else has been written. Having this background knowledge will help when pitching. This alone will open many interesting doors and keep a business ahead of the game against competitors.

Create an Opinion Leader - The executive spokesperson is the face of the company. Make that person the industry expert/opinion leader on all relevant issues that are identified in the news or internally. This person can be pitched to use for quotes in industry articles, as guests at industry roundtables or as the writer of bylined articles. Once the spokesperson has gained mainstream attention, people may be calling THEM as an obvious and reliable source.

Pitch charts - Keep a chart of pitch ideas. Something that isn’t relevant today may be in a few months or may inspire a new idea. This way there is a collection that may fill in some of the quiet months.

Build relationships - Build a relationship with the reporters in relevant targeted publications. Give them your big news or story exclusives. Become a reliable and regular source of information. This is helpful in getting attention, especially when the reporter is in a crunch, they will think of the people they have relationships with first to help them out.

Be creative - Be creative with pitches. It all comes down to research. Does the headline read like something that would make it in print? Take a run-of-the-mill partnership release, research trends around that application and build something interesting and relevant.

Pick up the phone - This is the most important step. Get on the phone and pitch the story. Go get the coverage. Sitting and waiting won’t work. Do the research, have the pitch ready and call.

Once these steps become a regular part of a communications professional’s daily routine, finding issues and pitch ideas for those quiet months won’t be such a painful experience. Staying in the news and looking active will generate a fresh and positive perception about the business and give everyone something to talk about.
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PR Tip #2: Rules of corporate online engagement
The direct link to customers that online marketing allows also comes with a set of rules and ways of doing business that have to be adhered to. Like writing a six page press release and wondering why no reporter bothered to read past the first page, misunderstanding and mishandling online communications can lead to at best wasted efforts and opportunities -- but also to open distrust of a company, their products and executives.

This is not your father’s public relations. Inverted pyramid written releases and jargon filled marketing copy are perfect for press relations, but will fall on deaf ears in most online communications sources. Outreach to and control of these sources requires much more direct communications methods, and from a much wider variety of spokesperson.

Online communications is also much more than simply monitoring news forums to see which competitor is saying what or waiting to see if any angry customers post angry hate mails. This is a direct path to customers as well as an interactive path from the customer back to a company. If managed and attacked correctly, online communications can grow brands, build a loyal customer base and allow organizations to drive the industry issues.

With all this in mind, here are several general rules that have to be kept in mind when beginning an online communications plan:

Do not write advertising copy or press releases - Straight forward communications, with a minimum of marketing “fluff” is what is expected. Using these vehicles has to give more information and a better exchange of ideas than what can be found on a website. While it is still important to always maintain the integrity of a company’s messaging and vision, the standard ad copy/press writing will not be accepted.

Be consistent - It is vitally important that any online communications program be consistent. Any communications outreach sets a precedent and will be expected from that point on. If a CEO answers a forum question regarding a press release, be prepared to have forum participants expect CEO participation in the future. Do not answer a forum question regarding annoying hold music on a support line, if a several weeks’ worth of customer questions regarding new features have not been answered.

Feed the beast - A blog or Wiki that has not been updated on a regular basis will quickly become irrelevant. RSS feeds need to be updated on a regular basis as well.

Do not have a marketing contact answer when an engineer will do much better - Many of these communications vehicles are populated by people who understand the products and the competitor’s products. A company’s credibility will suffer if technical questions are addressed with marketing answers. Know the audience and what they need.

Do not overreact - Online communications has given people a large soapbox, and there will be times when postings will be unfair. Speaking out against every slight or negative response will not be a good use of time, and will often only lead to a continuation of negative posts.

Maintain your integrity - The same rules of how to communicate regarding your competitors in other marketing matters still apply to online communications. Though it may seem like an easy target to secretly go to a competitor’s site and spread FUD, the potential problems that this type of negative outreach can bring far outweigh the positives.

Stay on message - Every single spokesperson within an organization has to know the organization’s main messages and mission. Where standard advertising and public relations can be more easily controlled in terms of who says what to whom, online communications turns every employee who ventures online into a spokesperson. There are great advantages in using a wide range of employees in online communications, but their use has to be balanced by keeping their outreach within accepted messages. This is a tough balance to maintain and requires a well thought out, and constantly updated, message document that is read and understood by any member of an organization that will participate in online marketing.
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Topaz Marketing Services
Leveraging the capabilities of our staff and our extended partners, Topaz Partners offers several marketing communications services as an extension to a client’s PR program and outbound communications. The advantage of utilizing Topaz in this capacity is that our team is already engaged in our client’s business. Some of our services are listed below.

Services include:

• Website Strategy – development, outreach and promotion
  
• Web Content Development – web pages, press materials
  
• Corporate Logo Design
  
• Collateral Development – design, writing, targeting
  
• Presentations Design and Development
  
• E-Mail Campaigns
  
• Newsletters
  
• Webcasting
  
• Sponsorships and Advertisements
  
• Perception Audits
  

Contact us to inquire about Topaz’s marketing services.
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Team Topaz

Todd Van Hoosear

Todd combines his communications background with a deep understanding of the technologies his clients specialize in. With 12 years of public relations, marketing communications, training and IT support experience, his broad background brings Topaz and its client’s perspective not found in most PR professionals. As an experienced technical communicator, he is able to convey difficult concepts tangibly to different audiences, from the technically savvy trade and IT publications to the results-driven business media. His efforts have led to coverage in outlets including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston

Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Sun-Times, Dallas Morning News, Washington Post, USA Today, eWeek, Network World, Computerworld, Consulting Magazine, and a host of other IT and trade publications.

Todd has led the PR efforts for companies in a variety of industries, including network management, manufacturing automation, simulation, storage, telecommunications, venture capital and professional services. His past and current clients include Broadcom, CANBOX, ETF Group, Fluent, Fujitsu, Headstrong, LogicaCMG, NetScout, RuleStream and Tecnomatix.

Prior to joining Topaz Partners, Todd served as an account director at Weber Shandwick Worldwide, where he led the US launches or rebranding efforts for several global companies.

Before Weber Shandwick, Todd served as marketing communications manager for Primix, a Boston-based professional services firm (now part of Burntsand), supervising that company’s public relations function and supporting investor relations, direct response, event marketing and advertising. His efforts increased technology trade and business press coverage by well over 150 percent in a highly competitive e-business consulting market.

Todd's earlier professional experience included systems administration and technical writing, training and support. He earned a master's and bachelor's degrees in communications at Michigan State University, and serves on the board of directors of the school's local alumni chapter. He is also a member of the Public Relations Society of America, the IEEE Computer Society and the Association of Computing Machinery.

To learn more about our team, please visit our website.
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Topaz Partners - Who We Are
Topaz Partners is an emerging public relations leader with a senior team of communications and business professionals specializing in strategic business communications - public relations with a business development mindset.

Visit us at www.topazpartners.com.

Contact -- email: hkercher@topazpartners.com voice: 781-388-7900 x201