Currently viewing the category: "Business"

Wild Cards

On May 16, 2013 By

Here’s a small sampling of business cards, collected over the past couple of years, from Marianne O’Connor. They were all fished out of her desk as we remove the last vestiges of Sterling’s old furniture to make way for some exciting changes in our Silicon Valley headquarters. Most California employees will be working remotely [...]

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Is it ever OK to publicly dispute a product review?

On February 28, 2013 By

When Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently and very publicly challenged the fairness and accuracy of an unflattering New York Times test drive of his company’s Model S electric sedan, a number of observers wondered aloud whether it was a wise move. As the old saw goes, “never pick a fight with someone [...]

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It’s All in the Name

On February 22, 2013 By

A Look at What a Name Can Do For a Business, an Idea or a Product

You’re home watching television one night and an advertisement pops on following your favorite Food Network television show. It’s a bright sunny day and you find yourself surrounded by healthy, leafy cornfields in an idyllic Iowa [...]

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Silicon Valley: Ideas “R” Us

On February 4, 2013 By

At the Sundance Film Festival last week, one of the most buzzed-about screenings was that of the new Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher. With a second Jobs movie in the planning [...]

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2013 Predictions

On January 16, 2013 By

Last week, the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA), a Sterling client, hosted their annual “Predictions” event – bringing together some of the brightest minds in the Seattle tech industry to get their take on what trends and events defined the previous year — and what will be big in the coming [...]

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2012′s Most Notorious Events

On January 3, 2013 By

Happy New Year! As we head into what will inevitably be an exciting 2013, it’s interesting to sit back and reflect on some of the most notorious events of 2012 that caught our attention, and the lessons we’ve learned from each…

In January, just in time for Martin Luther King Day, many visitors to the [...]

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Working smarter for the New Year

On December 20, 2012 By

As 2013 approaches, many of us find ourselves resolving to do things that better our lives – exercise regularly; eat only locally grown and seasonal veggies; get outdoors more; find our inner Zen – and of course, the age-old improve professional development.

In line with this last resolution, the phrase, “work smarter, [...]

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Will Redbox streaming spell the end for Netflix?

On December 12, 2012 By

We’ve written about Netflix a few times on this blog. Beginning in July 2011 with their poor execution in communicating a major pricing structure change, it seems this former media darling has been on a downward spiral in the news ever since. And their stock performance [...]

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Amex Small Business Saturday – a Stroke of CSR and Marketing Genius

On November 21, 2012 By

American Express Small Business Saturday is a fantastic idea, and as this year’s Small Business Saturday approaches, American Express deserves some special recognition. They have successfully created an amazing all-in-one corporate social responsibility / marketing program that absolutely hits the nail on the head in appealing to both America’s hope for a [...]

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Differentiating Your Product in a Crowded Market

On October 12, 2012 By

This week, Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper and formerly cofounder of Tumblr, launched a new publication for iOS called, The Magazine. Arment aims to cover technology, so I downloaded the pub to check it out (note: The Magazine and Arment are not clients) and was quickly [...]

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PR Challenges Old and New

On October 5, 2012 By

From time to time, I like to do some soul-searching on my career and profession to date, in which I consider my current role, and how it has evolved since I jumped into the business in the late 90s — has it ALREADY been THAT long??

I guess I should preface this with the following: [...]

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Communicating a Pricing Change… the Right Way

On September 24, 2012 By

Last July, my colleague, Scott, wrote about the Netflix debacle with their unexpected pricing change and the brouhaha that ensued.

Netflix’s 60-percent pricing increase on their DVD streaming service left customers feeling confused and betrayed, resulting in hundreds of thousands more subscribers jumping ship than the company originally [...]

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Growing Twitter Follower Numbers The Right Way: Focus on Quality vs. Quantity

On August 29, 2012 By

I like the phrase “growing your Twitter followers,” because it gives me a mental image of a social-media farmer cultivating a new crop of followers — carefully watering and fertilizing them with the right amount of content and engagement. Admittedly, this image is silly, and probably created by too much caffeine and [...]

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Agile Engagement, from the Mouths of the Experts

On July 19, 2012 By

I have long considered the concept of agile engagement, and what it means to me as a PR professional increasingly moving into the social media realm. As time goes on, it becomes a larger part of my day-to-day role.  So, it was with great interest that I listened in on a recent PR [...]

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7 Business Books Worth Reading

On July 10, 2012 By

Remember books, those things that hold about 15 tweets to a page? Here at Sterling Communications, even as we move to 400-word press releases and 600-word blog posts, we believe there continues to be value in the long written form. A newspaper or magazine article sometimes can’t contain all the ideas and case studies the [...]

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Facebook Is Not a Free Lunch

On June 26, 2012 By

I am not a Facebook customer. I am a Facebook user. That’s a distinction that many of the 900 million people with profiles on the site seem to forget. Facebook’s customers are the companies that pay to advertise on the site. We, the great unwashed 900M, are Facebook’s by-product that they serve up to advertisers [...]

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PV America: Continuing My Love Affair With Solar

On April 12, 2012 By

I love conference season, particularly, solar conference season. There’s something about all the sunny looking exhibits and eager new technologies that just makes me smile.  Last year, at Intersolar, companies competed after expo hall hours in a “Battle of [...]

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This is a Mad Men’s World: 6 Lessons from Don Draper for Agency Life

On March 23, 2012 By

I am obsessed with the world of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. I even dressed up as an SCDP secretary for a Halloween party (and won third prize). In preparation for the fifth season of “Mad Men” beginning this Sunday night on AMC, I’ve watched the episodes again and despite [...]

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Lies in the service of the truth? Or just lies?

On March 20, 2012 By

Mike Daisey is a liar.

He may not see it that way, but no reasonable person can hear or read the misrepresentations and outright fabrications in his stage act, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” without concluding that he has a problem with the truth. A rather [...]

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What’s the Most Important Quality in a PR Professional?

On March 8, 2012 By

What do you look for when looking for a PR consultant or agency? Most of us would imagine that we would want expertise in our area of work (technology, consumer products, hospitality, etc.). As a PR practitioner, that has always been what I believed companies were looking for when they hired. When reading about what [...]

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How the Internet Changed Life as we Know it

On February 17, 2012 By

Looking back fifteen years or so, I remember the first hints of what would become the Internet as we know it today. Back then, I was a young twenty-something attending Sacramento State University, majoring in Psychology, when a forward-thinking professor of mine decided to require the class to use email (then completely text-based) to communicate [...]

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5 Steps To Becoming a Good Spokesperson

On February 13, 2012 By

As any company will realize, speaking with the media is inevitable. There is, however, a big difference between just talking to the media, and actually getting your point across in a way that will build lasting relationships, garner positive coverage and convince journalists that you are a good resource for them in [...]

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Using mobile phones to make in-store buying decisions

On January 30, 2012 By

Did you use your mobile phone to help make buying decisions this past holiday season? According to a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project that was released today, more than half of adult cell phone users did.

The research showed an interesting breakdown of how shoppers [...]

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How to Develop a Winning Nomination for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards

On January 24, 2012 By

This is awards season at Ernst & Young LLP. The good folks there are not only busy safeguarding the results of the Golden Globes, but have opened up nominations for their own annual Entrepreneur of the Year® Awards. Applications are due March 9, 2012.

The Entrepreneur [...]

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Running “Deep,” Instead of Running Away

On December 22, 2011 By

“Chevy Runs Deep”

When GM auto company Chevrolet introduced this new slogan late last year, few knew exactly what it meant. According to Chevy’s advertising agency – Goodby, Silverstein & Partners – “Chevy Runs Deep” is meant to be used in such a way that it will solve past marketing problems faced [...]

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The Future of Holiday Shopping

On December 14, 2011 By

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday, Daily Comparison Shopping.

Technology has changed the way consumers approach the holidays. For years now, media and analysts have pointed to Cyber Monday as the prime example of this.

In the next few years, mobile applications could very well outpace the Cyber [...]

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Small Business is Big

On December 12, 2011 By

Big brands are having no trouble luring shoppers in with low prices and extravagant advertising campaigns this holiday season, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday leading the way. Meanwhile, small, local businesses must find other ways to get an edge. Naturally, most small businesses don’t have the cash flow for pricey [...]

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Why Online Shopping Megabit This Year

On November 29, 2011 By

With bellies full of warm Thanksgiving goodness, many Americans turn from stuffing themselves to stuffing holiday stockings with Black Friday deals. In last week’s blog post, I explored how the Internet and mobile shopping are changing Black Friday. After countless interviews [...]

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The Digital Turkey: How Technology is Changing Black Friday

On November 23, 2011 By

Black Friday. To some these words conjure images of post Thanksgiving family fun, waiting in line to get the year’s best pricing on hot ticket items. Others grudgingly stand in the freezing cold hoping to score that outrageously priced TV for a steal, and then there are those who forgo shopping of [...]

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