News & Opinion

By Bob Gold, Principal   A brilliant PR pro runs Whiteoaks International, a partner PR agency, in the U.K. I like to think of James Kelliher as my mentor. He has taught me so much about how to run an agency and help to manage client workloads. So today, my poem goes out to my friend, colleague, and partner in PR, James, and his team. Here is “Words to Lift By” a poem for James Kelliher.   https://youtu.be/fN738cya3Hc?list=PLWRdnZxbRzbAbLRbxsScSSUFJsZBjKNzj For more information regarding our service offering in global public relations, digital marketing strategy, and special events & trade shows please contact us.

O'Dwyer's is the leading source for news on PR agencies, public relations, and marketing communications. We publish our news in a weekly newsletter and a monthly magazine that focuses on a specific specialty or industry trend.   O'Dwyer's has been conducting its PR firm rankings for 50 years.    See complete list here. See all Bob Gold & Associates awards & highlights here.

By Roxanne Leone, Director Marketing and Communications  According to the Global Web Index, digital consumers spend an average of two hours and 24 minutes per day on social media networks and messaging applications globally.   As companies and brands strive to increase eyeballs on these various platforms, there is also a growing need to become more human. That is, finding a better way to connect with prospects, customers, and partners to build strong and authentic two-way communication. A good way to do that is by building relationships and trust on social media platforms including LinkedIn and Facebook. 1- Understand Your Target Audience Your social media strategy starts with understanding your audience. What are their wants and needs, how do they wish to interact with you, and how to satisfy their needs in line with the goals of your business? In addition, your strategy should include clear content KPIs. According to Inc., the 80/20 Rule works for some companies but not all. Meaning, an average of 80% of content should inform, educate, and entertain to serve audiences effectively leaving 20% for straight promotion. 2- Track and monitor what you are doing, what is happening in your industry and what has the most traction Many marketers struggle with social listening and monitoring. To put the challenge in perspective, take time to listen and learn from others in your industry including media and competitors. Choose one or two of your competitors and follow their social channels for a week. React to a handful of posts whether it is a comment, retweet, share, or other. See if they respond and how it made you feel. Now, go back and review the type of content you reacted to. Was it a video, image, link to learn more, or something else?   Learn from your own personal experience and begin documenting what your own audience relates to. Be more conversational with the comments you receive. It will help you better manage your reputation, uncover new business opportunities, and help you find more qualified leads. 3- Build a content calendar and make sure it is full of variety Sure, social media continues to be a valuable platform to stay up to date with current news, but the fastest growing segment is driven by the evolution of social platforms as an entertainment hub. Consumers and B2B buyers crave funny and entertaining content - all audiences are human! So, be sure to include bits of fun, humor and pathos into your content. As you plan out your content calendar, make sure it is consistent with your brand and fits with your website and company blog. Remember, content should inform, entertain, or connect people together. For guidance on how to conduct a content audit, review this blog from HubSpot, How to Run A Content Audit in 2020. 4- Employ video content to increase engagement Marketers and public relation professionals want to maximize awareness and promotion on social platforms and get the most from their investment. According to Social Media Today, 54% of consumers want to see more video content from the organizations they support. There is clearly never enough video! Review your budget and ensure you have allocated adequate funds to develop new videos and repurpose videos you already have in your content library.   From a day-to-day standpoint, assign a team member to respond to comments in a timely manner. When posting remember to ask for reviews or comments on your product or service. Ask pertinent questions and of course, respond to user questions. As part of your overall social media strategy, plan ahead for surveys or polls, share informational or entertaining videos, tag guests, reference other’s content that is educational and purposeful and naturally, show some personality in order to keep the dialogue going. 5- Do not be afraid to engage in 1-to-1 relationships Social media is about human connections. Adjust your mindset not to market to the masses and the opportunities are endless. To do so successfully, you need to consider various forms of content that will resonate with your audience.   From a day-to-day standpoint, assign a team member to respond to comments in a timely manner. When posting remember to ask for reviews or comments on your product or service. Ask pertinent questions and of course, respond to user questions. As part of your overall social media strategy, plan ahead for surveys or polls, share informational or entertaining videos, tag guests, reference other’s content that is educational and purposeful and naturally, show some personality in order to keep the dialogue going. 6- Measuring Success How to demonstrate success is top of mind for every social media manager. This Forbes article, Social Media: Measuring The ROI, reminds us to take a benchmark of where you are starting, so you can better determine where you want to go. Review website analytics, SEO rankings, acquisition costs, number of followers, customer satisfaction scores and more! Before firming up your social media strategy and setting your KPI’s, ensure that you understand what metrics you are currently tracking. Metrics used to prove ROI include reach, audience engagement, site traffic, leads, sign-ups and conversions, retention, and revenue. To dive deeper into how to show social media ROI, visit the Hootsuite blog. 7- Good social media can be a great crisis management tool When reviewing your social media strategy, it is good practice to take a glance at your existing crisis communications plan. The better you understand how you are sharing key messages and what are the best methods to communicate the more prepared you’ll be if a real crisis hits. Social media can help manage your crisis or amplify and spread false information like wildfire. For guidance on pulling together a crisis communications plan and ensure all bases are covered, read our blog, “Crisis Management: Every PR and Marketing Professional is a “Crisis Communicator”.   Social media marketing is so much more than a mass marketing tool. When you take the time to build upon conversations and connect with your clients, prospects and others your business will see tangible results and real benefits. Like all other aspect of PR and marketing, social media is changing all the time. It is imperative that you stay abreast of emerging tools, trends and apps and adjust your processes accordingly. Continuing to build two-way conversations can help you strengthen and expand relationships, trust and community.

By Bob Gold, Principal   Bob Gold & Associates got lucky. Seven years ago we hired a guy who has simply become indispensable to our business. Chris Huppertz is not just VP Communications at our agency but, someone that clients and staff respect. Here is “Words to Lift By” a poem for Chris Huppertz. https://youtu.be/o3sEXQFmLGc?list=PLWRdnZxbRzbAbLRbxsScSSUFJsZBjKNzj For more information regarding our incredible team, please click here. Explore our service offering in public relations, content creation, and digital marketing strategy or contact us for a discussion around your specific communication needs.

By Bob Gold, Principal   In trying times, I believe the associate who shows up and gives more than expected becomes indispensable and essential to the business and his team. Those that don't go the extra mile and limit their contribution to set hours may not have the right attitude. At the end of the day, we are all in this together, managers, investors, owners, clients, customers and employees. That's why I have to take a moment to praise a very special person on my team, Andrews Laszacs, who is not only a responsible and stand up guy at Bob Gold & Associates but throughout the community. These Words to Lift By are for you Andrew. Here is “Words to Lift By” a poem for Andrew Laszacs.   https://youtu.be/wEPY5Ku6FuE?list=PLWRdnZxbRzbAbLRbxsScSSUFJsZBjKNzj For more information regarding our incredible team, please click here. Explore our service offering in public relations, content creation, and digital marketing strategy or contact us for a discussion around your specific communication needs.

By Bob Gold, Principal   Leadership. Our country needs a few good men and women to take us forward. The good news. We have many leaders who are thoughtful and bring hope to their staff and those they do business with. A special shoutout to Ray Nutt who leads Fathom Events through one of the cinema's most challenging times. Here is “Words to Lift By” a poem for Ray Nutt.   https://youtu.be/eowF7-FJxaM?list=PLWRdnZxbRzbAbLRbxsScSSUFJsZBjKNzj For more information regarding our service offering in reputation management, special events & trade shows, and thought leadership please contact us.

By Bob Gold, Principal   Zenita Henderson is simply the smartest, most caring, and loving person in any room. She leads from a place of compassion and sensitivity. The SCTE•ISBE/Tuck Executive Leadership Institute Alumni and Cable TV Industry are better because of her own brand of connectivity. Here is “Words to Lift By” a poem for Zenita Henderson.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN3ntTBtqd0 For more information regarding our service offering in reputation management, special events & trade shows, and owned and paid media please contact us.

Bob Gold & Associates is a results-driven team of communication experts. As a result, Wimgo has ranked BG&A as the #1 Public Relations Firm in Redondo Beach, California across the board on all five screening criteria: Reputation: Analysis of all reviews across verifiable platforms to determine overall sentiment. Expertise: Team experience and knowledge, along with number of years in business. Service Quality: The quality of service delivered measured by quality, speed, and value. Consistency: Rate at which the business consistently produce high quality outcomes. Customer Service: Reputation and quality of customer experience departments. Wimgo consists of a team of dedicated professionals who help companies find the best service providers to select and are likely to deliver the most consistently high quality outcomes.   To date – Wimgo has helped create over one million connections with service providers with 95% of them being positive experiences.   If you’ve been searching for public relations assistance, we’d love to chat! We’ll help you tell the story your audience has been waiting to hear.

Leading career development program embraces virtual format Denver — We are excited to announce that The Cable Center has launched virtual IA for IA Class 8, which begins on June 23, 2020. Virtual IA enables and empowers participants to “Innovate from Anywhere” through interactive remote learning.   IA is one of the industry’s leading career development and educational programs. In this unique 8-week course, participants learn and apply the process of innovation while advancing a real-world project within their companies.   A central tenet of IA is that innovation thrives within constraints. In these times of uncertainty, it is more important than ever for workforces to possess the skills to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.   “IA itself is innovating and adapting to the changing business environment. For Class 8, and potentially future classes, we made the decision to move IA to a virtual-only format to enhance its accessibility while ensuring the safety of our participants,” said Janice Silver, VP of programs and marketing at The Cable Center. “We have extensive experience engaging our participants over Zoom and Slack during the remote portion of IA. We believe we can preserve the value of live instruction, peer-to-peer collaboration, and applied learning as we expand the virtual portions to include the kick-off and capstone.”   With virtual IA, participants from across the globe can experience this groundbreaking program together, even though physically apart. “We are proud to make this development opportunity fully accessible, streamlined, and safe by employing the innovation that IA embodies,” added Jana Henthorn, Cable Center CEO and president. “These are unprecedented times and we are all in(novating through) this together.”   To learn more about the Intrapreneurship Academy visit The Cable Center's website.