Over the last six months, we’ve been focusing on influence - blogging about it, talking to client and colleagues, researching the impact of online influence.  What started as a basic premise - the idea that amidst all the new dynamics in the market, influence still matters - has grown into a full-blown methodology that is shaping the way Eastwick does business.

We call it the Architecture of Influence.

We’ve all experienced how much marketing and communications has changed over the last several years with the advent of social media.  That’s old news.  Eastwick’s new framework is based on a data-driven approach that uncovers the real influencers in a market, not based on gut feel or old assumptions but what the data tells us about who really matters.  On top of that, we layer our smarts about the market and how those influencers work in order to drive awareness and influence sales.

We’re talking evolution not revolution, but the change is an important one and makes it possible for us to measure the results of communications in terms that matter most to our clients - market awareness, influencer engagement and customer preference, to name a few.

Architecture of Influence

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve never been on the bandwagon that has declared brands are dead but we do understand why the claims are being made.  There is now a lot more that goes into buying decisions by consumers and business buyers than just brand awareness.  But to claim that brands don’t matter is naïve.  I guess Yahoo agrees based on its latest search offering.

And yet the Yahoo search filter seems to suggest that, just possibly, the idea of the brand isn’t dead after all. With branded search filtering, Yahoo is acknowledging that many searchers don’t want results from just anywhere, regardless of how algorithmically relevant those results may be. Searchers want results (from trusted Web sites) — which is to say, from trusted online brands.

Source: c__

We’ll be talking a lot more about the need for looking at communications and marketing in an entirely new light–one where search, branding and word of mouth need to coexist for companies to really take advantage of all channels to create awareness and preference for their offerings.  I get a chuckle…and some times totally annoyed…when I see dramatic claims about PR being dead, social media being free and branding irrelevant.  Glad to see that others agree.

Avinash Kaushik, Source: clickz.com

What do Web analytics have to do with communications companies anyway?

A lot.

That’s my not-so-humble opinion, and we’ll see if it’s shared by my favorite Web analytics expert and author of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, Avinash Kaushik.

[Listen]

Read the rest of this entry »

Brian Halligan

It always amazing to me how companies can have a ‘persona,’ seemly without even trying.

That’s one of the many things that fascinates me about HubSpot.

Right from the home page you get the sense you’re in the company of friendly individuals and - with the free tools they offer - in the company of people who know their respective, ’stuff.’

On today’s edition of our Break through the Noise podcast, we’re going to ask Brian about if their persona has been a factor in their rise to becoming a clear influnder in the makerting space - seemingly overnight.

[Listen]

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to this week’s Influence Report, Eastwick’s way of keeping you up to date on the changing communications landscape.

This issue’s feature is on the changing role of press releases, a hotly debated topic in the PR and media worlds. The name press release is even outdated since these documents are used to communicate with many more audiences than just the press. Our view is that companies and PR pros need to take a fresh look at when and how they distribute news and information. News releases are an important way to communicate directly (the ultimate vendor-generated content says my friend Barbara Krause, Krause-Taylor Associates) and there are now many other ways to push that content out. A few things that may change your thinking about news releases:

  Read the rest of this entry »

Before you make a decision about investing marketing dollars in social media or social networking, you should understand the current “online footprint” for your company as well as your competitors. We’re offering to do a free Social Media Audit to gauge a company’s current profile in these channels as well as the potential for using social media to reach new and existing customers. We also take a look at competitors to see if they’re beating you to the punch.

 
Influence is taking place on social networks today. The question is, are you doing the influencing, or is your competitor?

  Read the rest of this entry »

Source: epromos.com

You don’t have to look hard to see some common threads in our blog posts. Influence… social media… tools vs. strategy… storytelling…

Yes, storytelling. For a communications company that owes it name (and least in part) to the author John Updike, we sure live up to our name.

We spend a lot of time on professional development to understand just what makes a good story so when we pitch writers; we know what we’re talking about.

Recently, Friend of Eastwick, and former journalist Sam Whitmore of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey came in to give workshops on everything from writing mechanics to story archetypes.

  Read the rest of this entry »

By Jennifer Lindsay, Director of Digital Services, Social Media Evangelist / New Media Guru

Lately I have been obsessed thinking about how PR can add value to email marketers. I know it may seem strange, but traditional definitions around PR are in flux - why wouldn’t we want to include this powerful marketing discipline into our strategic and tactical plans?

The reporter in me needed to know. I researched all the usual places, ‘What Does Brian Solis think? Chris Heuer? Todd Andrlik?’ What do they have to say on the topic?

Read the rest of this entry »