The Innovator's Mic

We're living in the era of fake news, or at least, the fear of fake news. Stories that would have once been reserved for salacious supermarket tabloids are now being shared like wildfire across social media and discussed seriously on the nightly news.

It's bad for readers (who do you trust?) bad for media (how do you prove your credibility?) and bad for businesses, who don't want to get caught up in a phony but potentially damaging story. Even a fake story could be a massive PR risk.

In this week's Hacks and Flacks, March VP Meredith L. Eaton and Content Manager Andrew Grzywacz break down the fake news phenomenon. Meredith shares crisis communication tips for brands that need to react to a damaging fake story, and we discuss the budding cottage industry of fake news publishers.

LINKS:

• Meredith L. Eaton: The Rise of Fake News. Does PR Need to Worry?
• Wall Street Journal: You’re the Victim of Fake News, Now What?
• Wall Street Journal: Caution Required When Responding to Fake News
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!

When you're trying to start a business, it can be tough to figure out your next step. Daquan Oliver, founder and executive director at WeThrive, learned this from a young age, and now he works to develop entrepreneurial skills in students from middle school on up.  

In this episode of Hacks and Flacks, Daquan shares a few lessons in social entrepreneurship. Having successfully built a national collective of undergrad mentors for youth in under-resourced communities, Daquan describes how informal mentorships have given him the support system to build his company.

He also explains why he chose to avoid media outreach at a certain point in WeThrive's development, how press coverage gave him a boost at the right time, and how a few simple marketing and tech tools helped his business scale in a way that eludes many other nonprofit organizations. 

LINKS:

• Learn more about WeThrive
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!

Companies like to talk a lot about their fancy gadgets and whiz-bang whirligigs (good word), but are customers actually listening? In most cases, probably not.

So, how should brands re-think marketing and PR to grab the interest and attention of the right buyers, and drive them to take an action? We ask Jodi Petrie, Executive Vice President at March and the head of our new Consumer Innovation shop, for her perspective. Jodi offers thoughts on the current state of tech communications, and suggests a better way forward for brands in this space.

LINKS:

• Learn more about March Consumer Innovation Shop
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!

January was a busy month for the tech world, and for March Communications. We sent team members out to major tech events this month, and in this episode of Hacks and Flacks, three of them report back what they heard and saw while on the road.

Courtney Allen, James Gerber and Alex Jafarzadeh check in after trips to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the National Retail Federation (NRF) Retail's Big Show. They evaluate how the biggest innovators in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotics and more are succeeding or failing to connect with their target buyers.

Which of these trends are overhyped and which are underrated? We also pay our respects to the dearly departed 3D TV trend and ask: how can companies avoid seeing their product end up in the graveyard of gimmicky tech?

SHOW LINKS:

• CNET: "Shambling corpse of 3D TV finally falls down dead"
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes or Stitcher today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!

Rica Elysee is a builder. Based on her personal experiences with family and friends, she saw the need for a community for women that care about a natural hair lifestyle, which is why she created BostonNaturals. Now she's built a business in BeautyLynk, an on-demand marketplace for people to find beauty professionals for at-home appointments.

Through both experiences, she found that staying true to herself and her own personal journey helped her build grassroots communities, whether it was women who want to embrace their own definition of natural beauty, or customers who need someone to help them craft their style.

In this episode of Hacks and Flacks, Marina Askari and Manny Veiga talk to Rica about her journey. We talk about why authenticity is so important to how companies - startups and large enterprises - grow, gain customers, gain media coverage and more. We also ask about the local startup resources - like MassChallenge - that helped her build her business.

LINKS:

• Visit BeautyLynk: BeautyLynk
• Learn more about BostonNaturals: meetup.com/bostonnaturals
• Learn about the MassChallenge application cycle this February masschallenge.org
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!

If some content is good, more is better, right? Marketers know that's not always the case, especially in today's content marketing environment, where the sheer volume of content available for buyers to read can be overwhelming. When there's too much content out there, you have to change your own content creation strategy to get noticed.

In the final Hacks and Flacks of 2016, we talk with Joe Flynn, Managing Editor at Sales Engine Media, about that exact challenge. A veteran B2B content marketer, Joe tells us how his own content strategy has changed to reflect the current state of SEO, social media and content consumption habits.

LINKS:

• Visit Sales Engine Media: salesenginemedia.com
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!

Most tech businesses abide by that old rule of thumb: never discuss politics and religion in polite company. However, this year we've seen many prominent individuals and companies thrust into the political spotlight, whether they wanted to be there or not. How have they responded? And as tech becomes more intertwined with our everyday life, should we expect to see more companies comment on social and political issues that are typically outside their depth?

In this episode of Hacks and Flacks (which, it's important to note, was recorded before the 2016 presidential election) Manny Veiga and Andrew Grzywacz discuss the communications responses of some of the biggest names in technology - Facebook, Airbnb, and even figures like Peter Thiel or Sheryl Sandberg - when faced with political issues. We also muse on the issues (data security, personal privacy) that could force B2B enterprises to wade into these murky waters.

LINKS:

• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!

Bloomberg is a brand of contrasts. It's simultaneously one of the biggest names in news, while also flying under the radar for those of us who don't keep up on the latest in business or investment. The Bloomberg Boston office is inconspicuously tucked away on two upper floors of a Downtown Crossing high-rise, but within that space, reporters are creating stories that are read and heard by a huge international audience.

In this episode of Hacks and Flacks we talk to Anne Mostue, radio anchor and reporter at Bloomberg Boston, to help PR professionals get a better sense for this dichotomy. After transitioning from the world of public radio, Anne now spends each afternoon on Bloomberg's airwaves, covering the latest in finance for an audience of movers and shakers. She describes the types of news that's important to her audience, the differences between Bloomberg and her past stops in journalism, plus the best ways for PR professionals to pitch her.

LINKS:

• Follow Anne Mostue on Twitter: @AnneMostue
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!

What's one buzzword that's just about run out of steam in the world of healthcare? "Solutions."

Boston Business Journal reporter Jessica Bartlett hears it often enough, and that's because she's regularly pitched by PR professionals working on behalf of the region's many healthcare businesses. Off the back of a recent Pub Club of New England speed pitching session, Jessica joins Hacks and Flacks this week for a discussion about media outreach and reporting.

She offers a glimpse into the dynamics and expectations of Boston Business Journal's readership, and insight into the story ideas - and headline opportunities - that catch her eye as a healthcare reporter covering one of the nation's top markets for that industry.

LINKS:

• Follow Jessica Bartlett on Twitter: @BOSBIZJess
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!

When you're hyper-focused on results, it's easy to view PR and marketing as a purely numbers-driven game. However, the creative arts - writing, photography, video and more - play a central role in contributing to those numbers by helping companies tell their stories and reach their desired audience.

On this week's Hacks and Flacks, we talk to two people who understand the art and science of visual mediums. When she's not working as a biomedical engineer for Boston's MC10, photographer Ellora Sen-Gupta can most likely be found snapping photos and contributing to creative projects as part of Boston's budding Instagram photography community, including @PortraitMeet.

March Director of Video Services Brendan Reilly is also a member of that group, and in this episode, he and Ellora talk about their techniques for applying creativity to corporate visual content, tips on how to get the best out of subjects who aren't comfortable in front of the camera, and why companies can't afford to cut corners on skill or technical competency when it comes to working with photographers or videographers.

LINKS:

• Follow Ellora Sen-Gupta on Instagram: @hellorainyday
• Follow Brendan Reilly on Instagram: @reelreilly
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Twitter: @hacksflacks
• Follow Hacks and Flacks on Instagram:@hacksflacks
• Follow our Facebook Fan Page: Hacks and Flacks Podcast
• Follow March Communications on Twitter:@MarchComms
• Visit the M+PR Nonsense blog: MarchComms.com/blog

Subscribe to Hacks and Flacks on iTunes, Stitcher orPodbay today. The show’s music is provided by Job Creators. Check them out at JobCreatorsBand.com!