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Building for the Future…
The past year was an exciting one for the growing community of Topaz staff, clients and business partners -- a year that Topaz made its mark in the public relations world. While there were great accomplishments in 2003, the real excitement lies ahead. As we move into 2004, Topaz is poised for further growth and even greater success. And for this, we thank our staff, clients and business partners who have all brought us to where we are today.
In this issue, we’ll review some of the highlights of the past year and look ahead to PR opportunities in 2004. Again, we hope you find our newsletter helpful. As always, if we can be of any service to you, please feel free to contact us.
Paula Slotkin and Tony Sapienza
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New Services
As 2003 comes to a close, Topaz continued to move ahead -- growing our business and our staff and stepping up the services, including messaging workshops and e-newsletters. Recently, we headed a workshop at a client’s global sales and marketing summit. Workshops like this are key to clarifying the messages both Topaz and our clients take to media, analysts and other audiences. We are also preparing e-newsletters for some of our clients as an extension of our PR efforts. E-newsletters are an effective and affordable way to step up communication to a broader audience, gaining valuable exposure to your company’s messages.
Topaz Meets the Press
Topaz continues to meet with key media to stay informed of trends and changes within this community. Our recent meetings have included:
- D.C. Dennison, technology editor for The Boston Globe
- Michael Fitzgerald, contributing writer for The Economist, MIT Technology Review and other major publications
- Joshua Weinberger, assistant editor, Baseline
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New Faces – Clients
Topaz is fortunate to work with a growing base of exciting companies. Clients added to our roster in the past few months extended our reach into a range of industries: from LED lighting to web application development tools, from government contracting to online auctioning, from manufacturing design software to LED lighting.
Snapshots of these new clients are below:
Bowstreet (www.bowstreet.com) provides development tools for the creation and maintenance of adaptive J2EE applications. Their automation framework and patented reusable software components allow development teams to rapidly build adaptive applications that stand-alone or integrate directly into an existing infrastructure.
EZGSA (www.ezgsa.com) supports the growth of businesses by facilitating the process of listing on the GSA Schedules. Comprised of former government contracting officers and industry experts, the Washington, D.C.-area based company provides continuing contract, marketing and procurement support to commercial enterprises that wish to enhance their sales to the federal marketplace.
ImpactAuction (www.impactauction.org) is a non-profit online auction site that allows donated products and services to be auctioned to the public with funds going to charities.
ImpactXoft’s (www.impactxoft.com) software technology enables manufacturers to concurrently design, modify, evaluate and produce quality products with unprecedented speed and efficiency within a simultaneous product development environment.
OptiLED (www.optiled.biz) is global manufacturer of cost effective lamps that combine high precision optics with all the advantages of the brightest LED’s (light emitting diodes).
New Faces- Employees
As our client list grows, so does our staff. We have expanded our team with senior PR professionals who bring backgrounds in a variety of industries. Our new team members include Tom Francoeur, Kristy Kozaka and Susan Lombardo. The companies Tom, Kristy and Susan have worked with include Advanced Technology Ventures, Trellix Corp., Global Insight, Numark Industries and International Data Group. To learn more about our team, please click HERE.
For more news about Topaz Partners, please visit our NEWSROOM.
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Constant Contact- Easy, Effective Email Marketing
Email marketing is firmly established as one of the most cost effective and efficient ways to reach and influence audiences. Constant Contact’s Do-It-Yourself Email Marketing tool allows any business professional to create targeted and relevant email communications such as newsletters, promotions and other announcements that can be sent to customers or others in a business network.
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Constant Contact’s web-based solution is designed and priced for small and medium-sized businesses. The step-by-step wizard allows non-technical users to create an HTML newsletter in a matter of hours from start to finish. Simply choose a design template, import the mail list from an excel file and drop text and images into editable fields. As with this newsletter, custom designs can be incorporated to give a unique look to the publication. Topaz worked with an outside designer to create a template that reflected the look and feel of our website. Once designed, the template can be used for all email communications. Topaz has also managed several newsletter projects for clients – from developing content to creating designs and layouts.
Constant Contact also incorporates database management tools. A company can organize and target lists within their account, easily add or remove names and track click-throughs. The reporting tool shows what addresses have bounced; emails that have been opened and which links have been clicked. This information is valuable when planning the next campaign and in updating lists.
- Use Constant Contact to:
- Keep in touch with customers and prospects
- Communicate more efficiently than with direct mail (eliminating print and mail expenses)
- Take advantage of opportunities in a shorter time frame
- Build long-term, profitable relationships
- Send great-looking HTML emails with graphics
- Generate an immediate response
- Link customers back to your website
- Track prospect interest
Constant Contact is a Deloitte & Touche New England Fast 50 company, and partners with companies such as Amazon.com, AOL, Interland, IBM, Inc.com, Intuit, Network Solutions, Overture, PayPal, Pitney Bowes, Staples.com, Switchboard and ValueWeb.
Constant Contact is also involved in Project Lumos, which is committed to eradicating spam by leveraging existing authentication and identification technologies that when applied at the ISP level will clearly delineate spam from legitimate business communications. For more information, visit www.constantcontact.com or call 781-472-8100.
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Framework Technologies
Topaz began working with Framework Technologies in the summer of 2003. The leader in project execution decision support software, Framework was interested in redefining its image and position within the enterprise software market. They turned to Topaz based on our expertise and media/analyst contacts in this area.
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Founded in 1995, Framework’s focus is helping companies in the manufacturing and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) markets focus on the key projects paramount to achieving growth objectives. ActiveProduct, Framework's solution for the manufacturing industry, focuses on the early phase of the product lifecycle, from ideation to market introduction, and helps Fortune 1000 manufacturers like Moen, INTERMET, Borg Warner and Timex introduce the right products at the right time and at the right cost. Framework's offering for the AEC industry, ActiveAEC™, is a powerful solution that allows companies such as Best Buy, KeySpan Services, MACTEC and Modern Continental to successfully manage AEC projects that will drive improved operational efficiency and company profitability.
In recent months, Topaz has secured coverage in publications such as The Boston Globe, Industry Week and Advanced Manufacturing and CEO Donald Tomlinson was featured on the WBIX AM 1060 radio talk show Boston Business Journal’s Morning Edition. Framework was recently named one of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in New England by Deloitte & Touche.
For more information, visit www.frametech.com.
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Adam Zand
Adam Zand is a Topaz veteran. A member of our team since September 2002, Adam has been with us from the early stages when Topaz had only a handful of clients and staff. Today, Adam is an important part of our team and directs accounts such as The Generics Group, CCBN, SKY Computers and EZGSA.
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Adam has seen impressive results in his media relations efforts. CCBN has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Business Journal and Investor’s Business Daily. The Generics Group recently completed a press tour which included Fortune, Forbes and IEEE Spectrum. And SKY Computers has seen its visibility grow in key technology publications, including cover stories in VMEbus Systems and Planet Analog.
In his years prior to Topaz, Adam worked with companies such as Progress Software, Transparent Language and NetGenesis and placed “Page 1” articles in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Business Journal, ESPN.com and CNN/SI. Other recent technology and business placements include Barron’s, Popular Science, CFO, CIO, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, CNET News.com.
Prior to starting his agency career, Adam served as director of development and media relations at Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society. Among his most memorable experiences were running two events with Muhammad Ali and coordinating press campaigns with The White House.
Adam earned his Master’s in Business Administration from Northeastern University in June 2000. He also holds a B.S. in advertising from Syracuse University. He and his wife Stephanie, creative manager for VW advertising at Arnold Worldwide, just celebrated their tenth anniversary on a deserted beach in Mexico. They have a four-year-old son, Sawyer -- a creative preschooler.
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Who We Are
Topaz Partners is a new breed of public relations firm. We are 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.
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