By Max McConnell

January 30th, 2015

The Prompt Byte: January 30, 2014

The Prompt Byte: January 30, 2014

	The how-to newsletter from Prompt PR		London 22 Upper Ground Eighth Floor London SE1 9PD Boston 745 Atlantic Ave Third Floor Boston MA 02111
	Welcome… Welcome back to The Prompt Byte—have you missed us? Before the Boston-office runs off to get ready for the Super Bowl, we wanted to bring you some advice on how to talk about your product’s benefits—not features—and the difference between the worst and worse. If you’re here for the answer to last week’s Geek Speak—it’s Scott Cook. Don’t forget to tweet us your guesses for this week’s quote. Happy reading, Hazel Butters CEO Prompt PR Twitter: @PromptLondon and @PromptBoston Facebook: Prompt London and Prompt Boston How to seperate features from benefits There’s a problem with technology vendors. When it comes to talking about their product, many go into overdrive about the features. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with features—they are a good thing to have and to know. But when you are speaking with prospects and customers, it’s important to separate features from benefits. First of all, you have to consider the shocking fact that your customers and your prospects don’t care about your business or your products. And they don’t care about the number of features you have. What they care about how is how it’s going to benefit them. Another shocking fact is your prospects aren’t telepathic. They don’t know why they need to buy your product or service. You have to help by stating and explaining the benefits. Yet the problem with features and benefits is that they are quite often lumped together in marketing materials, in collateral and in sales conversations. This becomes confusing for buyers in technology, an industry that has an inherent complexity, where there can be an overwhelming number of features and specs. For an excited and proud technology vendor it can be very easy to get worked up and want to share all the brilliant features you’ve developed. Features are important. They help prospects understand exactly what they are buying. But there is a complexity of the environment, infrastructure, choice of vendors, and the array of options. There’s a lot of ‘me too’ claims in the market, a huge amount of volume and noise. There’s a pain of switching technologies for many buyers. Prospects can be very cautious in terms of making the decision to switch. So they need to clearly understand the benefits. Instead, regardless of the technology you sell (this applies all the way up to high-end enterprise tech), think: what is the benefit to the user? How have existing customers benefited? What non-physical benefits do you have in terms of simplicity, time saving, emotional, more personal factors? How will you change their business, their working life? Will you increase processing speeds, protect existing investments? Save time, money, space, stress? Remember, vendors speak in terms of features, but customers buy in terms of benefits. Mobco Working in technology hubs on either side of the pond, at Prompt we’re always keen to get to know more about the innovators on our doorsteps in Boston and London. Each week, we’ll interview a local startup to learn more about technology and inspiration that can be found at home. This week, we talked with Ulrik Van Schepdael, the founder of Belgium-based Mobco. Mobco is helping companies mobilize their IT infrastructure with secure device management and mobilizing applications. What does innovation mean to you? Innovation is for me the practical application of an invention (technology, process, …). One of the key roles of our company is just to do that for our customers. We scan the mobile technology, apps and possibilities and translate that into practical and applicable “tools” for our customers businesses. An iPad in business is not an innovation as such, but the fact we can remotely configure those devices and enable mobile sales or field force to do their job more efficiently, that’s innovation. Read more, here. Picdeck Social media buffs like us know all too well the limitations of Instagram’s phone-based system. You can’t upload images on your computer, it’s a hassle to switch between accounts, and there is so much to consume. Enter Picdeck: a web-app made as a ‘one-day hack’ by London-based Marvel. Perhaps, since it was created so quickly, it can’t solve the first two problems just yet. But, it does provide a beautiful new way to organize what you need to see, what you want to see, and how many people are uploading selfies to that special hashtag of yours. Tracking and interacting just got better. Check it out!		Is it worse, or the worst? Worse and worst are two of those words that some people use incorrectly. It doesn’t make you the ‘worst’ linguist around if you get these two words mixed up, but grammatically speaking there are some easy concepts to keep in mind when using these words in everyday language. Worse is the comparative for ‘bad’. It can be used as an adjective or an adverb, and is usually used to compare one thing unfavorably with another. For example: • The snow in Boston was much worse than in London [true]. • He thought the book was bad, but the movie was worse. Worst is the superlative of bad, and refers to the most inferior, or the least good. There’s no comparison here; worst is just as bad as it gets. It’s a very dramatic adjective, or sometimes a noun, and should be used when expressing the ‘worst’ case scenario. For example: • Data backup is vital because losing those critical files is the worst thing that could happen. • My typing skills are the worst. Got a grammar question? Email us at grammar@prompt-pr.com. Crowdfunding success webinar Your #SundayFunday is about to get a whole lot more fun. Each week, our CEO Hazel Butters hosts a free webinar to offer you fifteen ways to increase your crowdfunding success. If you’re even debating crowdfunding a new product, service or app this year, you’ll want to sign up for advice on messaging, connecting with the press, how to handle social media, creating content and ways to accelerate your crowdfunding success. Register for this Sunday, or any Sunday now to March here. JPEG Selfies, food photos and party pics are ubiquitous in today’s world of social media. On a daily basis, we like to upload, download and share — and when we do, JPEG, with its support of 16 million colors, is one of the most popular formats. JPEG has been around since 1986 and got its name from the Joint Photographic Experts Group, the committee that originally created the standard. Technically speaking, JPEG is a lossy compression method for digital images that eliminates redundant or unnecessary information. Even at a compression ratio of 10:1, there is only an imperceptible loss of image quality. “Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.” Without the help of Google, can you identify the voice behind this quote? Tweet us at @PromptBoston and @PromptLondon if you can. We hope you find our newsletter an interesting read. For any feedback on our newsletter, or to discuss how we can help you with your PR, marketing, social media/blogging initiatives, copywriting or surveys, please contact us using the details below. We are always delighted to hear from you. London 22 Upper Ground Eighth Floor London SE1 9PD Boston 745 Atlantic Ave Third Floor Boston MA 02111 info@prompt-pr.com | www.prompt-pr.com
	Copyright Prompt Communications 2015. All Rights Reserved.

By PromptBoston

January 30th, 2015

The Prompt Byte: Rising stars – Mobco

The Prompt Byte: Rising stars – Mobco

Working in technology hubs on both side of the Atlantic, we’re always keen to know more about the innovators nearby. Each week in our newsletter – The Prompt Byte – we interview a local innovator to learn more about technology and inspiration on both sides of the Atlantic.

This week, we talked with Ulrik Van Schepdael, the founder of Belgium-based Mobco. Mobco is helping companies mobilize their IT infrastructure with secure device management and mobilizing applications.

1. What does innovation mean to you?

Innovation is for me the practical application of an invention (technology, process, ….). One of the key roles of our company is just to do that for our customers. We scan the mobile technology, apps and possibilities and translate that into practical and applicable “tools” for our customers businesses.

An iPad in business is not an innovation as such, but the fact we can remotely configure those devices and enable mobile sales or field force to do their job more efficiently, that’s innovation.

2. Tell us about Mobco’s vision:

There is an evolution ongoing where the IT department gradually no longer

‘purchases’ employee hardware. Focus now goes to the management of the Corporate Data and Apps on those devices. That’s certainly true for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, but this is also the trend we see happening with Macbooks and Windows 8.1/10. In our vision we see IT evolving from controlling hardware to controlling data. Our job, our mission, is to support the business in that transition, hence our baseline: ‘we mobilize your business’.

3. What do you predict or look forward to in 2015 with regards to Belgium’s innovation culture?

When we started 5 years ago with Mobile Device Management people looked at us and asked us ‘why’? Today, we see that every IT integrator has a mobile offering, and that’s great. Mobile is generally accepted in the business, no doubt about that. For 2015 and beyond, this mobile innovation trend is becoming more

important than ever before: companies are actually thinking mobile first. Or better – they’re basically thinking out of the (PC) box. This opens new opportunities and new possibilities. Doing business in Belgium is typically only possible on a small scale given the size of the market, the language. With the rise in importance of mobile technology, it’s no longer an issue and the market is global.

Nobody in our region should feel like “if I’m not in Silicon Valley, I will fail.” On the contrary, you’re better of NOT being in SiliconValley – the talent you need might live next door and you will not suffer from fierce HR competition to get it. Traditional businesses need to re-invent themselves (see the rise of online sales versus traditional sales) and new technology brings new opportunities for innovation, also on a small scale.

This is for me the trend forward, it’s smaller IT companies, innovative companies with in-house expertise. Companies with a focus. You could basically compare it with the trend we’ve seen in retail, we all saw the small shops disappearing in favor of the oversized supermarkets.

The consumers are turning their back to supermarkets if they want special advice, but for fast shopping of the basics the supermarket is fine. Bottom line; in IT we see the large integrators and operators suffering from cloud services which are providing the ‘basics’ and we see small expert companies providing the ‘top value’ the business needs

4. What are some of the trends and challenges you’ve seen in the Belgium technology scene?

The challenge in Belgium is currently no different than anywhere else. I believe we have just as much talent as anywhere else. This makes the challenge universal.

Business apps that are specific to the local economy and focused on the business are the 2015 opportunity.

5. If you could meet any single innovator (alive or dead) over a coffee, who would you want to meet?

Steve Jobs would be top of mind. I admire the way he built values that are used today to create new products and the way he took the computer industry from “look how fast this PC is” to “look what you can do with this device” – an innovation on its own.

6. Name a piece of technology you’ve bought personally that you really wanted (recently or a past purchase) and why you bought it.

I buy a lot of stuff and not all experiences are brilliant I must admit… but there is one I want to share with you and that’s the Harmony Home Hub. This ‘hub’ is simple to set-up, simple to use and combines basic technologies to deliver a user experience you’re looking for.

It combines Bluetooth for your remote control, no more point and shoot to reach the TV or amp, it interprets your commands into signals IR to different devices at once and you control the whole set-up over Wi-Fi via a web interface that knows just about any brand and device out there.

It comes for 100 USD and solved all my home remote problems. I’m not saying we’re doing the same in our business, but we do simplify the life of the IT admin and take away the mobile complexity. At the same time we enable more functionalities on the mobile devices and we do bring a brilliant user experience to the employee!

By Hazel Butters

January 29th, 2015

Make 2015 about growing (and appreciating) technology sales

Make 2015 about growing (and appreciating) technology sales

I’ve worked in technology marketing for, well, a long time. I remember America Online, AltaVista, Sun Microsystems and paper press releases. I’ve written case studies by hearing IT directors enthuse about water-cooled mainframes.

I was never originally headed for a career in technology, sales or marketing. It was originally more dinosaurs and journalism. It’s funny how things work out. But fro 16 years I have worked in a business that I love covering a sector that constantly fascinates me. And yet while technology changes at break-neck speed, I sometimes find that marketing is constantly playing catch-up in order to connect more directly to sales. I understand and appreciate the value of sharing a vision, showcasing a product, demonstrating business benefits through customer case studies and testimonials. But I still feel that marketing in all its form needs to have stronger links with sales.

Some sales professionals seem to have developed a fixed perception of marketing people, and it’s fair to say there is a similarly skewed perception in the opposite direction. I’ve worked in technology sales cold-calling and loved everything about the sales process. But I think many people have an under-appreciation for sales and misguidedly think of it as pushy. I realize that sales involves, well, selling – but it’s so much more than that. It’s also about solving problems, and having the right answer for the right people at the right times. Whatever business you work for, dig deep enough and they are certain to be selling – a product, a service, a notion, a principle, or maybe just a new way to do something.

Marketing needs a much firmer foothold in sales. It should link back to sales, be tracked in relation to sales, and connect more directly with the leads and prospects which ultimately contribute to any organizations’ success. This is why we have launched PRISM, our PR and Insight Sales-based Marketing methodology. PRISM outlines steps and processes to help technology companies to target, plan and execute sales-guided marketing. While whitepapers, messaging documents, visibility, understanding, engaging influencers and securing column inches remains very valuable, for many businesses sales is the most important metric.

Want to hear some of the things that we know work? Register now for a free Friday webinar that is all about how to communicate, connect and sell: ‘Get more customers: A sales workshop for technology startups‘. Meanwhile, happy selling!

By Hazel Butters

January 23rd, 2015

Crowdfunding platforms A-Z (part three): Examples from Quirky to ZIIBRA

Crowdfunding platforms A-Z (part three): Examples from Quirky to ZIIBRA

Over the past week we’ve been counting down the crowdfunding options A-Z. If you missed A-P, be sure to scroll back through this week’s blog posts here. As for Q-Z, here we go:

1. Quirky. A site geared to support inventors of new gadgets, Quirky provides community collaboration, as well as funding for selected projects. It then manufactures and sells the products. quirky.com

1. Razoo. This site offers donation-based crowdfunding for ‘causes that make a difference’. It provides widgets, social media integration and an iPhone app to help publicize campaigns. razoo.com

2. RocketHub. Calling itself “the world’s crowdfunding machine,” this site offers donation-based crowdfunding for social, charitable, business and creative projects. rockethub.com

3. SellaBand. Another donation-based site helping musicians to raise funds from fans. Customize your funding page or create your own stand-alone pages to embed on other websites. sellaband.com

4. SelfStarter. Started by a group that was turned down by Kickstarter, this open source solution lets self-starters build their own crowdfunding platform. It’s low cost, but takes some work. selfstarter.us

5. Somolend. A debt-based crowdfunding site helping small, established bricks-and-mortar US businesses raise funds from friends, family, customers and accredited investors. somolend.com

6. StartupCrowdfunding. Connects startup companies with funding from investors and angels worldwide. startupcrowdfunding.com

7. ZIIBRA. Just as farmers markets bring ethical food producers and discerning consumers closer together to share the things they enjoy, ZIIBRA helps artists and other creative types get closer to the people that love, support and buy the products they make. ziibra.com/

Remember, that we know there are many options to consider before launching your own crowdfunding project and it can be daunting – so sign up for one of our Sunday ’15 Ways to Increase your Crowdfunding Campaign Success’ webinars, which run live every Sunday at 11am ET/ 4pm GMT. To your crowdfunding campaign success!

By Hazel Butters

January 21st, 2015

Crowdfunding platforms A-Z (part two): Examples from IgnitionDeck to PledgeMusic

Crowdfunding platforms A-Z (part two): Examples from IgnitionDeck to PledgeMusic

If you were here earlier this week, then you know that there are thousands of crowdfunding sites to choose from. On Monday, we went over A-H and today we’re making it all the way to P. Be sure to check back Friday for all your options A-Z.

2. IgnitionDeck. Provides all the tools to run your own crowdfunding campaign on your own WordPress website. You get a plugin with widgets, in-depth admin panels, customizable themes and e-mail integration. ignitiondeck.com

3. Indiegogo. One of the most popular donation-based general crowdfunding sites, Indiegogo supports product development, music or film projects and charitable causes. indiegogo.com

4. Invested.in. Create your own donation-based crowdfunding site using this platform. It works with a range of businesses, charities and individuals. invested.in

5. Kickstarter. Still the best-known crowdfunding site, Kickstarter is focused on donation-based funding for technology and innovation products, as well as creative projects including art, music and film. It does not allow charitable or personal causes. kickstarter.com

6. Kiva. A debt-based crowdfunding site that provides microfinance loans for people in third-world countries without access to bank loans. Help a farmer in Rwanda buy seeds. kiva.com

7. MicroVentures. An equity-based site helping startups raise money from angel investors. It performs due diligence on all startups, and lets contributors invest as little as $3,000. microventures.com

8. PeerBackers. Funding big ideas including entrepreneurial, civic and creative projects, PeerBackers works with businesses at all stages to provide consultancy and education. peerbackers.com

9. PledgeMusic. Helping “fans become part of the music-making experience” by using donation and reward-based crowdfunding to fund the careers of musicians. pledgemusic.com

If you’d like to talk more about crowdfunding, what makes a campaign successful and to pick up hints and tips from our team, then sign up for one of our Sunday ’15 Ways to Increase your Crowdfunding Campaign Success’ webinars, which run at 11am ET/ 4pm GMT.

By PromptBoston

January 19th, 2015

Crowdfunding platforms A-Z (part one): Examples from AngelList to GoGetFunding

Crowdfunding platforms A-Z (part one): Examples from AngelList to GoGetFunding

There are thousands of crowdfunding sites out there. New ones appear every week, while others melt into the background or simply evaporate. So we thought we’d compose an alphabetical snapshot of some of the best of the current batch of platforms available. We’ve covered a wide variety of business models, including equity, reward and some original approaches for owners and backers. Come back later this week for more.

If you’d like to talk more about crowdfunding, what makes a campaign successful and to pick up hints and tips from our team, then sign up for one of our Sunday ’15 Ways to Increase your Crowdfunding Campaign Success’ webinars, which run at 11am ET/ 4pm GMT.

Meanwhile, here’s some ideas of different platforms out of the hundreds and hundreds out there:

1. AngelList. An equity-based crowdfunding site focused on technology startups that have already raised at least $100,000 in seed funding. Contributors, aka angel investors, are accredited investors and institutions. angel.com

2. CircleUp. Planned as one of the first JOBS Act sites this equity site handles angel investing, mostly for small businesses in the food industry or consumer products. circleup.com

3. CrowdFunder. With a large network of accredited and angel investors, this equity-based site was a leading backer of the JOBS act. It focuses on small businesses and startup companies. crowdfunder.com

4. CrowdRise. Helping charities raise donation funding, CrowdRise primarily helps non-profit groups dealing with issues of disease and inadequate education, as well as more personal causes. crowdrise.com

5. CrowdSupply. If your project makes a physical, shippable product then CrowdSupply can help you raise funds via pre-orders, as well as sales in its e-commerce store once manufacture is complete. crowdsupply.com

6. FundingCircle. A debt-based site helping small businesses looking to raise up to $500,000. It connects them with non-traditional lenders such as accredited investors seeking investment opportunities. fundingcircle.com

7. Fundable. Another leading backer of the JOBS act, this site has a strong technology focus and uses both donation and equity models to get your campaign moving. fundable.com

8. Fundly. This site lets you raise money for pretty much anything. Set up a custom donation web page that works on its mobile app and integrates with Facebook to help spread the social word. fundly.com

9. Gambitious. Focused on game creation, this site requires developers to submit a business plan. Contributors can donate for perks or get equity if both they and the company are located within the EU. gambitious.com

1. GoFundMe. This donation-based site helps you raise money for a charitable cause, or for personal campaigns such as medical bills, funeral expenses or education. It offers plenty of social media integration to help with social word-of-mouth. gofundme.com

1. GoGetFunding. A UK-based site developed to raise donated funds for local charities and personal causes, such as medical bills or legal funds. gogetfunding.com

By Hazel Butters

January 11th, 2015

Hazel Butters – come and join our crowdfunding webinar:

Hazel Butters – come and join our crowdfunding webinar:

Please join us to learn how to increase the success of your crowdfunding campaign and register for the crowdfunding webinar on Sunday at 4pm ET (11am GMT) by clicking here

By PromptBoston

January 8th, 2015

The Prompt Byte: Rising stars – ARTReader

The Prompt Byte: Rising stars – ARTReader

Working in technology hubs on both side of the Atlantic, we’re always keen to know more about the innovators on our doorsteps in Boston and London. Each week in our newsletter – The Prompt Byte – we interview a local startup to learn more about technology and inspiration that can be found at home.

This week, we garnered some great insights from Mark Loughran, creator of ARTReader – an appthat will enable you to read faster, work harder and be smarter.

1. Tell us a bit about what the app is all about and how it got started.

ARTReader was born out of the idea that digital reading could be improved. The existing speed-reading apps out there all made a strong focus on increasing Word Per Minute rates and nothing else. I wanted to see a program that was variable and responded to the changes of the user. Rather than something that improved speed, I wanted a program that simply helped the reader stay focused and engaged. By adding controls for speed and position that could be adjusted in real time, it started to take on the feel of playing a videogame as you read. Reading feels like it can be benefitted so much by data and I didn’t see it out in the market. The idea bounced around in my head and then while through hiking the Appalachian Trail I met another hiker who was interested in working with me. A year passed before we started work with the aim of creating a reading app that could help everyone. We’ve had to work remotely which has its benefits and detriments, but has been a great partnership.

1. What does innovation mean to you?

To me innovation is simply doing the grunt work that others won’t. The risk element involved with applying resources to an idea that may or may not be profitable. Before I began I seriously considered the question of why didn’t my idea already exist? For the entrepreneur, I think there is a personal rejection of the established hypothesis. At some point all the spreadsheets and MBA’s said it wouldn’t work or wasn’t cost effective, and the innovator is the one attempting to validate a contrarian hypothesis.

1. Why is New England such a hotbed for innovation?

Having grown up here, I think a lot of it comes from the Puritan work ethic and the winter. People in Boston know how to work hard. Between the education and financial competitiveness, you don’t find any lazy entrepreneurs, and the same goes for Angels or VC’s. A good idea doesn’t cut it in the Northeast, you need to prove you can execute. Out west there seems to be more of a prospector’s mentality, and NYC has some pretension to it. The second factor is the winter or rather the harsh high cost of living. If you don’t make it in Boston, you can’t just float, you have to keep moving. The successes of Boston’s innovative companies are usually not ground breaking, but practical, built on solid foundations and backed by sober investors. What we lack in imagination we make up for in feasibility.

1. Do you have any concerns about New England  growth and innovation culture?

Too much a fear of making a mistake over missing out on an opportunity. This applies both to the culture at large, but on a micro level to finding talented people. I can’t blame anyone just graduating for not taking a steady paycheck right out the gate, but that’s usually the best time to try out a startup. The big companies snatch up talent and incentivize them to stay; it’s hard with a limited budget to convince talented people of taking a chance. Especially when the winter comes, no one wants to be left without heat so to speak.

1. What are some of the trends and challenges you’ve seen in the New England tech scene?

The trends I’ve seen most recently involve the resurgence of hardware-based startups. Considering all the phenomenal engineering minds and programs out here it is to be expected, but for a few years prior it felt like all the press and attention was going towards social and healthcare. Now there’s a major focus on building things and companies that make improvements on real products. The marriage of software and hardware in its new form, the Internet of things, is going to bring some really cool innovations in the next decade

1. If you weren’t based in New England, which city and/or country would you want to be based in and why?

Boulder, CO / Denver, CO. The culture out there is amazingly enthusiastic about changing the world both culturally and practically. The cost of living is lower, and there’s definitely a sense of secondary entrepreneurs; people who work and collectively contribute to their efforts before or after work and on the weekends. The last time I was out there, I met a group starting a business renting out a house as an office, and the cost had me jealous about my own rent. It has that early silicon feel to it, people brimming with potential. The downside was seeing how much of that energy being spent on Ping-Pong and other activities.

1. Name a piece of technology you’ve bought personally that you love – either recently or in the past – and why you bought it.

To this day, the original iPhone I bought still feels special. The whole smart phone thing coming together in the touch screen medium, looking like a miniature monolith, made me feel like I was surfing the cultural crest of the wave. To have access to the worlds information in your hand is still having ripple effects through culture that will continue for the next 20 years. I can remember using my iPhone for the first time and really feeling like the Star Trek era had begun.

By PromptBoston

January 5th, 2015

The Prompt Byte: December 19, 2014

The Prompt Byte: December 19, 2014

	The how-to newsletter from Prompt PR		London 22 Upper Ground Eighth Floor London SE1 9PD Boston 745 Atlantic Ave Third Floor Boston MA 02111
	Welcome… …back to the Prompt Byte — Prompt’s weekly newsletter filled to the brim with PR wisdom and helpful tidbits. If you’re looking for some copywriting guidance, head on over to Copy Corner where we talk about building your reader’s trust. If you’re wondering how to tell if your technology marketing is pants, we’ve got you covered. If you’re looking to get in the holiday spirit, make sure to make time for our app of the week. If you’re just here for the answer to last week’s Geek Speak, it’s: Douglas Adams. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, just ping us! And if you don’t know what ping is… keep scrolling. Happy holidays, Hazel Butters CEO Prompt PR Twitter: @PromptLondon and @PromptBoston Facebook: Prompt London and Prompt Boston How to decide if your technology marketing is pants* *British phrase for ‘not awesome’ As you peer into the technology sales crystal ball that is 2015, we thought we’d share some tell-tale signs that your technology marketing may need some clearing. Here’s ten signs that you may need to change something in your technology marketing to help drive sales in 2015. Lack of clarity: it’s not clear what you sell – or why (i.e. why your business even exists) Too many acronyms and market-created terms (see #1) Tendency to make ‘me too’ claims, (frequently associated with self-constructed vendor charts) A sales-marketing gap: one group is selling one thing while the other is saying another Not enough customer-based content and testimonials Company news/press releases aren’t being pitched to the press (note: hitting ‘send’ on a wire service isn’t pitching) You don’t have the right sales content to shorten your sales cycle No engagement with the industry analysts (we don’t mean buying relationships) You need to get some swagger and show (not tell) what is different about your business, your solution and how you work You’re not explaining the solution to a problem, you’re trying to sell something Want to hear some ideas of how to create PR content and campaigns to support technology sales? Send us an email for a replay of our ‘Ten ways to use PR to drive sales of your technology product, service or app’ webinar by emailing ten@prompt-pr.com. Synchrony Innovations Working in technology hubs on both side of the Atlantic, we’re always keen to know more about the innovators on our doorsteps in Boston and London. Each week in our newsletter — The Prompt Byte, we interview a local startup to learn more about technology and inspiration that can be found at home. This week, we spoke with Adam Caper, CEO of Synchrony Innovations about its newest invention, innovation, Boston and his first fast car. Tell us about Synchrony Innovations. Synchrony Innovations was spun out of Synchrony Venture Management, a global leader in the development and support of strategic Corporate Venture Capital programs, in 2013. We recently created and launched TiCR Innovation Analytics, a robust, visual tool built for large enterprises to successfully evaluate the fit between their innovation investment options — R&D projects, corporate venture capital deals, partnerships, etc. — with their strategic priorities. TiCR is based on a patented system for quantifying strategic value in large enterprises, and as far as we know is the only SaaS-based system that allows companies to measure the degree of relevance of innovation targets & projects to their overall corporate goals. Its key for companies to understand where innovation is likely to be important, and to be able to quantify innovation in a tangible way. The world’s largest companies spend $800 billion a year on innovation — but according to Booz Allen Hamilton 70 percent is wasted. It is a big problem, and we’re fixing it with TiCR. TiCR™ provides a robust, visual tool for mapping a firm’s ‘innovation topology’ to identify innovation strengths and weaknesses, critical gaps in capabilities, and strategically relevant external innovation activity. Using this map, companies can easily identify the most strategically relevant areas for innovation investment. Read more, here. A Charlie Brown Christmas “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”—Charlie Brown Okay, it’s not a serious app—but it is the time to be jolly. So this week we’re going to suggest that you all get into the festive mood and download the ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ app. Complete with original narration by Peter Robbins you can help Charlie Brown and Snoopy find the true meaning of Christmas. Then play Schroeder’s piano, sing carols with the Peanuts gang and decorate your own Charlie Brown tree. PING We’re really not sure how popular this expression is in other offices around the world, but it’s frequently used across Prompt’s continental divide. “Ping me when you’re ready to chat, okay?” “Can you ping me so I can see if it works?” “Ping me when it’s done will you?” Today ‘ping’ is used interchangeably to mean message, remind, poke, text, nudge, tweet — whatever it takes to quickly alert someone that you’re ready, that they should be ready, that something is ready. Back in the early days of computer networking, ping was also an actual admin utility in its own right, used to test connections and response times just to make sure everything was hooked up and working as intended. The name derives from sonar — a signal that bounces back with a comforting acknowledgement that all is well.		Trust me, I’m a writer The web is full of content, ranging from indispensable resources to time-wasting filler. It can take a lot of time and effort to sift through it all in order to decide what’s worthwhile and what isn’t. That’s why most web users tend to identify trustworthy sources and then stick with them. They’ll pause to read news, reviews, analysis, features and the rest. But they’ll quickly label sites as sources they should trust or dismiss and hold that opinion for, well, ever. So here’s some advice. Work hard to build trust with your readers. Don’t lie to them or let them down. Make them feel like they can come to you for authoritative content that isn’t just made-up junk or old hat. Set out your stall, tell your readers what they can expect from you, and then keep your promises. You cannot buy trust — you have to earn it. But once word gets around that your content is worth a read, you’re sure to get noticed — and repeat visitors. Here are some quick tips you can use as rules of trust while you get started. Be honest, accurate and factual — backing up your opinions with links to other trusted sources. Make sure your content is regularly updated to ensure it stays accurate, as well as giving visitors a reason to come back regularly. Stay on topic so that your visitors know what they are going to get from you. Put some effort into the quality of your writing, spelling and grammar to inspire confidence in what it says. Credit peers wherever applicable. Never break reciprocal trust or privacy agreements. And be as accountable as you can by allowing readers to contact you, comment on your efforts (and let you know if there’s anything you might improve to make them trust you even more). CSI Do you hear what I hear? We know the sleigh bells ringing may be distracting, but right this second; people are probably talking about you. At the very least, they’re talking about something relevant to you. And they’re doing it publically – on social media. Prompt Social — the social media monitoring branch of Prompt Communications — has recently completed an in-depth analysis for a worldwide technology corporation with a service we like to call CSI, or Channel Social Influence. In addition to helping businesses understand what their customers are saying about them and how to engage with new prospects, Prompt now provides technology enterprises with insight into the social media activities, reach and engagement of business and channel partners, broken down into easily understood categories, ranks, tables and charts. Sound valuable? Get in touch: social@prompt-pr.com. “Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.” Without the help of Google, can you identify the voice behind this quote? Tweet us at @PromptBoston and @PromptLondon if you can. We hope you find our newsletter an interesting read. For any feedback on our newsletter, or to discuss how we can help you with your PR, marketing, social media/blogging initiatives, copywriting or surveys, please contact us using the details below. We are always delighted to hear from you. London 22 Upper Ground Eighth Floor London SE1 9PD Boston 745 Atlantic Ave Third Floor Boston MA 02111 info@prompt-pr.com | www.prompt-pr.com
	Copyright Prompt Communications 2014. All Rights Reserved.

By Max McConnell

January 3rd, 2015

PRISM PR Insight Sales-based Marketing methodology

PRISM PR Insight Sales-based Marketing methodology

Prompt PR’s PRISM methodology delivers the steps and processes that are necessary to plan and execute sales-guided PR in alignment with your sales objectives. PRISM tracks specific engagement and interest from target audiences so that PR has a demonstrable return on investment and a set of metrics that is relevant to your business-level objectives.

Prompt’s PRISM^SM methodology consists of planning, execution and online tools that gives technology marketers the basis to understand, plan and use PR to help drive sales and to measure the impact of PR and marketing from the most important metric to any business: sales.

Now you can measure your PR spend against the leads and sales that it generates.

The PRISM framework consists of several steps:

1. Scope analysis: sales and marketing review and revenue goals
2. Internal process review: including PR pipeline/plan, target audiences, sales processes, need-discovery conversations (based on SPIN Methodology)
3. External process review: including prospect-base perception
4. Lead generation triggers: adding lead-generation context to PR and content
5. PR and sales messages: synching up sales conversations with PR and insight content
6. Campaign and content creation: setting up the underlying technology, mapping out lead generation flow, preparing content in line with the PR plan, writing insight content
7. Triggers, entry points and feedback points: linking PRISM to existing systems, internal sales, and corporate databases
8. Reporting: including metrics, lead generation statistics, sales-focused reports and ROI

To find out more about PRISM and sales-based marketing, contact us today via prism@prompt-pr.com.