Kevin Werbach helps leaders understand emerging technologies so they can identify opportunities, avoid dangers and ensure smooth operations.
Awareness is dead. Kaput. Extinct. No longer relevant. Toast. Finished. Let’s not shed a single tear for its passing. For far too long, communicators have touted “raising awareness” as the basic measure of success. The great justifier of our very existence. The holy grail of results. No longer. As your communications strategy evolves, make sure…
Thought leadership starts with a big idea, but it centers on action – yours and that of your key audiences. It requires you to solve problems, embody your message in everything you say and do, and communicate your value through multiple channels with clarity, conviction and consistency. Only then can the power and value of thought leadership…
Any press is good press, right? NO! This old fallacy isn’t just wrong, it’s downright dangerous, especially in today’s online world where the lines of opinion and fact are blurred and everyone has a voice that can spread like wildfire. Make no mistake: your thought leadership brand and reputation are deeply linked. And if you treat…
The world is ending and it’s all because of artificial intelligence (AI). At least it is if we’re to believe the endless stream of stories from futurists predicting the collapse of the global economy because AI stole our media relations strategy jobs. These fears are not unfounded. Rapid leaps in AI are putting entire professions…
Ask just about any leader to name the most valuable attributes a team member can have and creativity is likely to be near the top of the list. In fact, 60% of CEOs cite creativity as the most important leadership quality, according an IBM global survey (compared to 52% for integrity and 35% for global…
You wouldn’t trade in your car at 10,000 miles, right? It’s still “new” with lots of life left. Same goes for content. Many of us PR pros and marketers assume the content we create is “old” just weeks after it publishes; that the only way we can keep the content stream fresh is to develop…
Storytelling isn’t new. But as social media and content marketing platforms continue to grow (in number and value), there’s never been more opportunity – or priority – for making storytelling a key part of strategic marketing initiatives. After all, our job as communicators is to sell ideas, knowledge and reputation. Stories help you move beyond the…
It’s a challenging market. Everyone on your team and throughout your organization is hands on and heads down; they’re focused on getting work done. It’s easy to get caught up in designing and executing strategies to pull in your external audiences – namely your buyers. But what about internal communications? Sometimes, your internal audiences can be the…
Too often, marketing and communications leaders say they have a PR plan. But when it comes down to it, the plan is simply a list of tactics and campaigns. What’s missing? PR objectives. And that means you’re also missing a critical opportunity to tie PR and marketing efforts to what matters most to your boss:…
As we continue to divide our time between various apps and platforms, attention has become the currency of marketers and communications pros. Capturing your audience’s attention with visual content is a critical first step toward earning their trust and business. Data-driven storytelling is an important facet of visual marketing; it’s also a highly effective way to win the attention…
SO MUCH OF OUR DAILY COMMUNICATION IS NONVERBAL, AND THAT MATTERS – A LOT. Our nonverbal communications – such as facial expressions and tone of voice – communicate so much meaning beyond the words we say. But these nuances are completely lost when we communicate through smartphones and other technologies, which is happening now more…
To succeed in content marketing, you first need the right strategy. There’s an important difference between having a content marketing strategy in mind and using one on paper to help guide your brand’s content and marketing decisions. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 61% of successful content marketers use a documented strategy. And 72% point directly to a documented content marketing…
DOES YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE ENABLE YOU TO CREATE MORE VALUE IN YOUR ORGANIZATION? Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X are both recognized as successful, powerful innovators who have effectively leveraged their ideas and reputations to attract financial and human capital to their companies and projects. But that is where their…
What’s your growth strategy for 2020? Not every company can “be like Uber.” Bigger companies are more complex, which makes it more challenging to innovate. But not impossible. Big can be beautiful, says Gary Pisano, renowned Harvard Business School professor and the foremost authority on growth and innovation strategies for large firms and startups. Organizational progress…
What’s the most underrated strategy for bringing in new customers, keeping them loyal and turning them into advocates? Give them thought leadership that makes them love you. Thought leadership tends to be seen as a way to position an individual or organization as an authority. While that is true, really effective thought leadership is about building trust…
Creating a media relations strategy that will achieve your communications goals can be an uphill battle, especially when you’re under pressure to get placements in top-tier publications. It’s not that what you’re pitching isn’t worthy, but with media, there’s a tendency to only think about the “big fish” and forget about the just-as-mighty, and often…
Think about how much digital technology has altered your life in recent years. For almost everyone, it’s quite a lot. Smartphones, social media, streaming services and the ever-proliferating number of mobile apps now consume enormous amounts of our time and lives. And yet, according to official GDP statistics, the share of our economy accounted for by…
