For technology businesses, recommendations or favourable reviews from research organisations such as Gartner or Forrester can provide a major boost to sales. Keeping the appropriate research houses informed is therefore an essential part of your marketing. However, it is a mistake to treat analysts as if they were journalists or customers. Getting the most from a vendor briefing depends on understanding the analyst’s role and particular requirements. (more…)

One of the enduring myths about PR is that you never know if it has worked; that PR and measurement are somehow incompatible. Of course, this is far from the truth, and many businesses specialise in evaluating public relations programmes. However, what this misconception does highlight is the lack of an industry-wide approach. Finding the right way to measure your PR therefore requires careful consideration. (more…)

We have written before about SEO PR: the power of public relations to help with search engine optimisation campaigns. Now you can hear it from the SEO’s side: SEO specialist Gary Preston has written on the Econsultancy blog about how PR-led story pitching enabled him to get a valuable inbound link from the Telegraph’s website to his client site. (more…)

80:20 Communications was invited to present to a group of Guildford-based SMEs last night, who wanted to learn about public relations. The evening was organised by networking group Raw Business and Marc used the session to explain the main principles of media relations and various techniques that SMEs can use to do their own PR effectively. It was nice to contribute something to the local business community in this way, and has given us the idea of developing some training-based services that smaller firms could afford. More on that to follow.

KDS, our travel and expense (T&E) systems client, has been running like a greyhound out of a trap since the arrival of its new sales and marketing supremo Dean Forbes. We have been working on all fronts to push out its new messages (about securing a return on investment for travel expenditures), with press releases in the works, successful trade media interviews, a new website proofed and amended, and a vendor briefing lined up with Gartner.