New England’s Clean Energy Leaders Gather at Babson

Monday, April 1, 2013 | Leave a Comment 

PrintThe Northeast has become a hotbed for environmentally-conscious companies that also have strong business models. Call them what you will – clean tech, sustainable, green – just don’t call them treehuggers or do-gooders. These are businesses that make real money; they just happen to offer a product or service that will help lead the way to the future of U.S. energy independence and environmental sustainability.

This Friday, April 5, many of New England’s most prominent energy leaders will gather at Babson College for the school’s annual Energy + Environmental Conference.  Greenough has sponsored this event for years, and we’ve heard insightful thinking by everyone from Rhumb Line Energy Founder and former Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environment Ian Bowles to representatives from ExxonMobil. This year’s slate of speakers and panelists looks as impressive as always.

For instance, Claire Broido Johnson, co-founder of SunEdison, will deliver one of four keynote addresses. SunEdison is, of course, North America’s largest solar energy services provider, a company that has developed more than 883 MW of solar energy capacity. Considering that the U.S. only has about 7,700 MW of total capacity, it’s fair to say that SunEdison has had a huge impact. Claire also heads up Boston-based Next Step Living, a residential energy efficiency provider.

We’re also excited to hear from David Schatz of WiTriCity, who will be sitting in on a panel about energy transition in the auto industry. WiTriCity is a pioneer in the new field of wireless electricity. Using magnetic fields, the company’s technology enables wireless charging of any electronic device, from a light bulb to a laptop, so it will be fascinating to hear David speak.

Another local company to watch is Cambridge-based Zipcar. The company has already revolutionized car rentals once through its unique approach, now it’s revolutionizing the industry again with the introduction of plug-in vehicles and other green cars. Director of Business Development Gretchen Effgen will join the same panel as WiTriCity’s David Schatz to discuss the future of the auto industry.

Those are a few of our favorites, but we look forward to hearing from many other energy leaders from around the region and across the country at Babson this Friday. See you there!

Jake Navarro is a senior consultant for Greenough. Send him an email at jnavarro@greenough.biz

Take Me to the River!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment 

Some clients prefer the boardroom, others the executive suite. When we think of our clean technology client Harvest Power, however, we tend to think more “outside the cube” and lean towards the great outdoors. Considering that Harvest’s corporate headquarters is smack-dab on the banks of the Charles River – in a picturesque restored watch factory in historic Waltham, MA – hitting the outdoors pretty much means getting on the river.

And that’s just what we did.

Last week, during our regularly scheduled meeting time – which we often conduct by Skype – the Greenough team headed out to Waltham and met our client in person. We dropped our trusty team canoe in the water, and proceeded to hold our meeting between hearty paddling, quiet bird-watching, and frolic-and-detour discussions about “bucket list” items we each wanted to do. We eventually addressed each item on our standard agenda, but we also saw leaves changing color, a great blue heron wading, and turtles lolling on protruding logs. Not a bad way to conduct business.

Harvest is well on its way to achieving its goal of powering local communities through a robust system of organics recycling, energy generation and soil revitalization. The concept for this change – the “Power-of-We” – was very much present as we powered our canoe along the meandering Charles on a beautiful fall day.

Thank you, Harvest Power, for a great afternoon!

Jay Staunton is vice president, account services at Greenough.

Campaign Success: Telling the Story of Diversity for Network Health

Thursday, May 3, 2012 | Leave a Comment 

Network Health could be called the epitome of the word diverse. The Medford, Mass.-based health plan, which provides access to high-quality health care for more than 200,000 moderate- and low-income residents in Massachusetts, has embraced diversity at many levels—one could even say they’ve embedded it into the company culture.

The reasons for this commitment are easy to understand. Having a diverse workforce allows Network Health to better serve, understand and represent its members who come from a wide range of ethnic and racial backgrounds. And the strategy appears to be working: Today, Network Health employs more than 400 employees, 46 percent of whom are non white, and 24 percent of which are in supervisory positions. Network Health’s employees speak nearly 20 languages themselves, and provide customer service in more than 170 languages.

The commitment to diversity, in large part, stems from Vin Pina, vice president of Human Resources. Pina, who experienced discrimination firsthand when a landlord refused to rent him an apartment due to his race, has made it a priority in both his personal and professional life to promote diversity and the understanding and acceptance of other races and cultures. When Pina joined Network Health, he spearheaded a three-year strategic effort to diversify the health plan’s workforce in accordance with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EOCC) employee-diversity standards. Under Pina’s leadership, Network Health hired twice the number of minority employees than standards propose in only two years.

As Pina said, “It’s simple: If our employees speak the same language as our members, and know our members’ neighborhoods, struggles, customs and traditions, we can be more efficient and effective in connecting and communicating with them.”

Pina was soon recognized for his dedication to diversity and was named a 2011 Boston Business Journal Leader in Diversity. It was then that we knew Network Health had a compelling story to tell and we used this recognition as a launching point. We developed a PR campaign that would highlight Pina’s unwavering commitment and showcase the multiple programs Network Health has created to promote cultural diversity and inclusion in the workplace. As a part of the campaign, we also highlighted the fact that health care reform would result in a dramatic increase in the number of minority patients entering the health care system in 2014, when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is set to take full effect. In other words, embracing diversity would be more important than ever.

The media responded immediately to the campaign. Through carefully crafted storylines, we secured several feature stories for Network Health in mainstream media, UMass Amherst Magazine (Pina’s alma mater) as well as a number of multicultural publications such as OJournal, Southcoast Today and TuBoston.com. We also helped Pina author contributed articles for outlets such as Color Magazine, which highlighted his personal experience with discrimination and views on why diversity is a societal imperative.

In addition, the campaign helped secure further recognition for Pina and his work at Network Health.  Most recently  he was named a 2012 New England Human Resources Association (NEHRA) Diversity Champion.We’re proud of our work on behalf of Network Health and look forward to sharing the many ways this Massachusetts company is making a difference in the lives of its employees and members.

Jessica Boardman is a senior consultant at Greenough. Follow her on Twitter @J_Boardman.

Content and Creativity Come Naturally

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment 

Most people can identify a defining moment in their life when they recognized the path they wanted to follow in order to fulfill their passion.

For Barbara Call, Greenough’s new director of content, this happened in fourth grade. Her writing debut: A series of short stories about a mouse. It was at that moment (although she didn’t recognize it until years later) that she knew she would become a writer.

We are extremely lucky that Barbara found her way to Greenough a few months ago and now we can’t imagine life without her. Writing comes naturally to Barbara and she has an uncanny ability to remain calm under pressure and quickly write or edit carefully crafted, emotion-evoking content.

As Director of Content, Barbara uses her creative juices to oversee Greenough’s content department, managing the development of varying material, from tweets to whitepapers and everything in between. Barbara is also charged with helping define and manage content strategies for Greenough’s clients; she believes that all content must be highly strategic, deliberate and carefully placed in order to truly add value to clients. Barbara works closely day in and day out with both account services and the media relations team to ensure that all content both integrates with and supports our clients’ overall objectives and makes sense strategically.

Barbara brings a wealth of editorial knowledge and expertise to our company, having spent 20+ years in the journalism industry as a writer, editor and author. As a Syracuse University magazine journalism grad, it’s no surprise Barbara landed numerous roles in some of the country’s most highly-regarded publications. She brings invaluable knowledge of the IT and technology industry, having held several senior editorial positions at Ziff Davis’ PC Week and editing breaking news from well-known players such as IBM, Compaq and Dell Computer. Barbara has also contributed to numerous magazines and online news and information sites including Cook’s Illustrated, The Boston Globe Magazine and Body & Soul magazine, among others.

She is the author of 6 books, including her favorite title, The Crafter’s Devotional: 365 Tips, Tricks and Techniques for Unlocking Your Creative Spirit. The book reflects Barbara’s passion for art and creative expression, offering 365 ways artists and creative types can use their creative energy to build, experiment and inspire. In her spare time you will likely find Barbara doing just this: Working on some kind of arts and crafts project. You might also find her training for an upcoming mountain bike race with her partner Matt, watching her 16-year-old son Alex at a wrestling match or cheering on her 11-year-old son, Jack, at a basketball game. She also loves live music, anything outdoors and spending time with friends and family at Bisby, a family summer home in the Adirondack Mountains of New York state.

Wise words that the content guru herself likes to live by? Do what you love and love what you do. And for all those aspiring writers out there looking to make it, Barbara has some advice: Write for yourself and yourself only. Write because you love writing, because it makes you feel good, not because there’s a paycheck involved or promise of fame or glory. If you do this, you will become a better writer, guaranteed.

Go Ahead, Journalists, Pick Apart My Experts

Monday, September 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment 

A few days ago, Andrew Nusca, a journalist and editor primarily for ZDnet and SmartPlanet whom I respect and follow, shared the following on Twitter:

"I'm inclined to think that by increasing the quantity of published stories, journalists have devalued their own information."

Nusca's tweet summed up in 18 words the conundrum that Dean Starkman had just let examined 3,500 in the Columbia Journalism Review.  His article, "The Hamster Wheel: Why running as rast as we can is getting us nowhere," suggests that the scramble of media outlets to produce more content – any content – faster is leading to the media industry's undoing.  It's an insightful analysis of the current state of news reporting, and, despite Nusca's succinct summary, I'd recommend it to anyone who cares about the quality of the news they read, whether in a media-related profession or not.

The interaction of quality, quantity, production time and value of news stories is an issue that was on my mind long before I saw these two recent examples of journalists questioning the process they're caught up in.  I've hesitated to blog about it though, because the questions that arise don't necessarily shed positive light on either PR or the journalists on whom our success depends.  But I'll take a risk here, because I believe the future of both industries depends on asking these tough questions.

More stories equal more opportunities for coverage, right?  More headlines ought to mean more opportunities for clients to be in them, even if they're refreshed out of the top spot in moments.  (I'll leave the challenges of keeping up with an incessantly accelerating news cycle to another post.)  In his article, Starkman suggests what he calls "The Wheel" gives undue leverage to PR.

The Wheel infantilizes reporters, strengthens P.R. This is just logic. If reporters lack the time to gather, analyze, and reflect on information, then they will have less leverage to confront the institutions on their beat. And make no mistake, we are living in a time of P.R. ascendance. 

It's not easy for me to include that excerpt here, but I've seen this firsthand.  Yet while it occasionally makes my job easier (yes, sometimes it makes it harder, too), I don't think it's a good thing.

For example, the Help-A-Reporter-Out (HARO) newsletters that connect journalists in need of sources with experts and PR reps, has become an essential part of the PR practitioner's toolbox.  I love HARO.  I think it's a brilliant idea, and I've heard that journalists love it too.  However, I increasingly see queries from stretched-thin reporters who request that respondents simply include a pre-fabricated quotation and the expert's name, title and company.  No interview required.  No questions asked.  No risk of being misquoted.

A PR pro's dream, right?

Maybe.  It's a wonderful gift to be able to control the message, to be able to respond quickly without the hassle of coordinating schedules and dial-in numbers.

Yet as a consumer of news, as a citizen who believes that freedom of the press is not only a right, but also a responsibility – I'm concerned.  The same hallmarks of great journalism I sometimes fear in PR – probing questions, deep due diligence research, aggressive pursuit of countering opinions – I desire and appreciate as a consumer.

In no way do I mean this as an attack on journalists.  What professional in any industry has not felt the pinch of the "do more with less" mantra of the recession and found it necessary to sacrifice going the extra mile in some small (or large) area in order to survive?

Rather, my concern is with journalism as a whole, with how the ethos of reporting has changed and is changing.  

Starkman writes:

News organizations must change with the times, but nowhere is it written in Newsonomics (or whatever thrown-together, authoritative-sounding book is being read like Torah by news managers these days) that news organizations should drift away from core values, starting with the corest of core—investigations and reporting in the public interest. These are not just “part of the mix.” They are a mindset, a doctrine, an organizing value around which healthy news cultures are created, the point.

And while I outlined my concern as a consumer above, and though what Starkman aptly calls a "recalibration of the news calculus" may put more power in the hands of PR, I'm concerned for PR, too.  Letting the value, quality, and truthfulness of news degrade in favor of high click-rates and more content also demeans the quality of results we get for our clients.  Sure, I'll have to work harder to get a good story working with more scrutinizing reporters.  But if it means better news, not just for my clients but for the general public, that's extra work I'm eager to do.   

- Contributed by Catherine Morgan. Follow her @c_morgan.

The Real Twitter Bug

Thursday, September 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment 

Twitter bugLast Tuesday you would have thought the world was turned upside down as a Twitter bug spread across web causing mayhem and panic within the Twittersphere. A colleague of mine barely had time to walk through the door and put her stuff down before she had hopped on Twitter and became a victim of the security flaw. 

The bug affected thousands if not millions of users who, by simply rolling their mouse over a certain tweet or chunk of text on Twitter, were redirected to harmful third-party sites without their consent. Some users were lucky enough for the bug to write and send an unsolicited update or re-tweet on their behalf.

Within my own office, a public relations agency where every single employee uses Twitter, the news of the bug spread fairly quickly. After discussing it amongst each other, we then proceeded to let our clients know about the bug and told them to avoid Twitter until it was fixed. At the time we did not know what exactly the bug was or the type of damage it could cause. However, as PR professionals helping our clients manage corporate Twitter streams, choosing not to address the issue was a risk we were not willing to take.

The folks at Twitter corrected the flaw in a very timely fashion and all in all, it proved to be more of a minor inconvenience rather than a full-blown catastrophe, which is how some people treated it. However, the situation did, in a sense, serve as a wake up call. I realized how much we, as PR professionals, are reliant on the platform and how much it has become a part of our daily routine. 

The PR industry is obviously just one group who relies heavily on Twitter. It seems to me that each day, Twitter continues to extend its power and influence upon different groups of people. What are the implications of this? To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. The implications are vast and complicated and certainly not black or white. 

As many people have begun to realize, Twitter can be powerful tool to do good, or it can abuse its power to do bad. For example, Twitter has done wonders in the world of customer service. Companies like Comcast, Jet Blue, Southwest Airlines and Dell have all addressed customer service issues directly using the platform, ultimately promoting a positive brand image and leaving customers happy. 

Or how about the role Twitter played in the Iran Election back in 2009? After traditional media was blocked from use, Iranians turned to Twitter to post updates, photos and videos of the real-time, often violent opposition occurring between demonstrators and officials. Clearly, widespread use of Twitter has done good in terms of raising awareness of important societal issues as well as addressing customer service concerns.  However, at the same time, it also has facilitated and enabled libelous rumors and accusations, invasions of privacy, and, as we saw a few days ago, harmful security threats, damaging not only one’s computer, but one’s online reputation and credibility. 

I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that Twitter simply has got its hold on us. And a lot of us. Whether enabling good or bad, there’s no denying that Twitter’s power is real and here to stay. So although this week’s Twitter bug has been fixed, I think the real Twitter bug lies within us and it’s not going away anytime soon.

- Contributed by Jessica Boardman. Follow her @jboards.

Hang Up and Drive

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 | 1 Comment 

We announced some exciting news at Greenough today – we’ve been selected as the PR agency of record for the Arbella Insurance Group. Our major focus so far has been the Arbella Insurance Group Charitable Foundation’s groundbreaking Distractology 101 program, which educates new drivers on the dangers of distraction at the wheel. The centerpiece of the effort is a mobile classroom created to change the driving behaviors through real-life driving scenarios demonstrated in the company’s state-of-the art simulators. Arbella CEO John Donohue felt strongly that something needed to be done to stop the epidemic of distracted driving. And it is an epidemic – more than 6,000 people are killed each year in accidents involving multi-tasking at the wheel. That’s a shocking number.


I’ve had the privilege of working with the Arbella team on the Distractology 101 program and can tell you it’s definitely been an eye-opening experience. I’ll reluctantly admit that before getting on board with the program, I’d been known to read or send a text or two while behind the wheel. Not anymore. What I’ve learned has surprised me. Sure, we all know that looking away from the road and at the cell phone in your hand is dangerous – but most of us think we’re safe as long as we’re using a hands free device, right? Not necessarily so. According to a study done by the University of Utah, there is little or no documented difference between the risks associated with handheld and hands-free devices. Researchers found that the distraction actually comes from the conversation, not holding the phone. Even more surprising? The study also found that using a cell phone will driving, whether hands-free or handheld, delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. And all of us are paying the price for this deadly multi-tasking: the annual cost of crashes caused by cell phone use is estimated at more than $43 billion, according to the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.

So how do we stop the madness? One answer, certainly, is legislation. Seven states have banned driving while talking on a handheld cell phone. 22 other states, including Massachusetts, have enacted legislation that bans text messaging while driving. But the fact is, as with drunk driving, laws just aren’t enough. As Donohue says, it’s about changing behaviors – not just with teens, with all of us. I realize now that every time I pick up the phone while I’m at the wheel, I’m sending a message to my kids in the backseat that it’s ok to multi-task while driving. It’s not ok. We’re all so used to the immediacy of communication these days and sometimes we have to force ourselves to step back and unplug for a bit, especially when we’re behind the steering wheel. Believe it or not, the world will wait.

-Contributed by Amy Erickson. Follow her @amyerickson.

We’re all pretty immature, here…

Thursday, January 28, 2010 | 1 Comment 

I've been thinking a lot about social media measurement lately – for a number of related reasons: social media is playing a bigger and bigger role in marketing every hour; I'm spending more of my time doing social media work for clients and they want things measured; and since I'm doing more of this type of work, I have a personal desire to know it's valuable.
 
Social media, social platforms, social marketing – whatever you call it, it's still evolving.  But it's not just the platforms, tools and their applications that are evolving; we're evolving too – in how we interact, how we think, how we understand the world around us.  And how do you measure evolution?  You can't, really, except in hindsight, because you don't always know where you're going.

Brian Solis has an interesting post on how quickly and how broadly the business world is changing – "The Evolution of Social Media and Business."

Tempering enthusiasm for and commitment to social media with the realism of one who knows the pace of organizational change, one of the clients I've been working with has said insightfully, "We'll crawl before we walk, walk before we jog, jog before we sprint."

I think this parallel to human development is an apt metaphor for social media measurement because it indicates different thresholds of accomplishments for different stages of an evolution.  With an infant or toddler, each word, each step, each new motor skill is a major accomplishment.  Even if your goal was for your child to be an Olympic miler, you wouldn't use quarter-mile splits as a yardstick from the get-go.
 

This is not to say goals are unimportant.  Quite the contrary.  Goals are of the utmost importance when using social media for any business purpose.  However, in thinking about measurement lately, I've come to the conclusion that metrics (and expectations) must incorporate both the end goal and the stage of the evolution.
 
To bring this back to a business example, if your goal is to drive 5% of sales through social media, but you have no presence, it's foolish – not to mention demoralizing – to measure progress against that goal in the first weeks and months you're working toward it.
 
While there's a great deal that's been written by various thought leaders and analysts on the different stages of social media participation, I've found little that ties those stages to metrics.  I'm still mulling over what the different stages might be, but here are my initial thoughts, with just a few divisions.
 
1. Baby Steps – Measure activity
When you're starting out, every effort that goes into laying the future success is important.  If you've only posted one update on Twitter, you're second one is a 100% improvement.  Examples:

Use anecdotes – a new relationship formed over Twitter, a customer discovered on Facebook – at this point, qualitative measurements of real experiences can help ensure buy-in and continued support.  Success breeds success, but you have to define it differently at the beginning.

2: Making Progress – Measure initiative and reaction
At some point after an individual, group or company gets started with social media, there's a stage where more quantifiable metrics are available and telling.  Examples:

3. Making it Matter – Measure Desired Outcomes

There's a great risk in dwelling too long on the types of metrics in stage 2, I think, because they don't map to goals.  If your business goal is to increase sales through social media, it doesn't matter if you have 100,000 followers who visit your Web site.  If the final metrics don't match your goal, they're useless.  Once social media runs in the blood of your organization you can measure how you're using it to impact real business results.

Examples (representing different business goals):

Every business will find a different mix social media metrics to fit their goals.  Here are a few additional resources to give you a few ideas:

Take a look at the links above, and feel free to share your thoughts on which work best with different stages of social evolution.
 
Contributed by Catharine Morgan.  Follow her @c_morgan
 

Give ‘Em What They Want

Wednesday, December 30, 2009 | 1 Comment 

So, you’d like a few tips, yes?

IDG recently issued a series of research briefs on aligning content and topics to social media platforms and buyer interests.  While the research focused on IT vendors and buyers, I’d guess that the findings apply to other markets as well.  One key lesson is that buyers report a significant preference for best practices on blogs.  So, without further ado, here are a few best practices for you, based on the IDG research.  (For the full reports, please visit the IDG Knowledge Hub)

The key lesson is this: align the format and subject matter of the content you offer to the social media platform.  According to IDG, "The number of available marketing content assets offered by vendors has increased by 60 percent over the past five years. Now, with the advent of social networks the rush is on to tie conversations into all that content. But the randomness of these efforts leads buyers to report that only 39 percent of offered links from social conversations to traditional content are relevant, resulting in buyer frustration and lost sales momentum."

Below are the top-ranked content topics and linked content types for a number of popular social media platforms.

1.    On blogs:

a.    Share: Best practices, news and case studies
b.    Link to: Case studies, ads and tutorials

2.    On forums

a.    Share: Evaluations, news, case studies
b.    Link to: Tutorials, free event registration, evaluation version

3.    On Twitter and Microblogs

a.    Share: News, perspective on industry issues, customer support
b.    Link to: Ads, technical knowledge, free event registration

4.    On Social Networks

a.    Share: News, insight on organization/political challenges, customer support and best practices
b.    Link to: Free event registration, ads, ROI calculators and planning worksheets

Overall, when linking to your company’s content from external sites, maintain an even balance between educational and promotional content.  Buyers responded that they prefer educational content about 43% of the time and promotional content 42% of the time. Don’t overdo it with marketing, but make sure people know about the great company behind the tips you’re providing. 

IDG’s research is valuable in initiating discussion about the importance of tailoring content and links to conversation platforms.  However, the results should not be taken as definitive, due to an extremely small sample size (about 100 respondents).  As IDG notes, "These aggregate findings only represent a starting point for discussion.  There is significant variance by investment type, buying role [and] focus."

In the end, despite the ease social media brings to publishing, it’s still important to know your audience and your surroundings when telling your company’s story. 

Contributed by Catharine Morgan.  Follow her @c_morgan

New Year, New You: 3 Resolutions for PR Clients

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 | 1 Comment 

Remember that scene in Jerry Maguire when Jerry pleads with Rod, “Help me help you!”  There’s a bit of that in this post.  With that in mind, here are three New Year’s resolutions I hope PR clients – with Greenough or otherwise – will make for 2010. 

1. Be a Social Butterfly

No, social media is not for everyone.  BUT: it is, without a doubt, one of the dominant forces changing the way business is conducted today.  As Forrester analyst James Kobielus recently wrote in a blog post, "Social networks are the future of online life, whether we like it or not.  Before the end of the coming decade, relationships with everyone –including family, friends, colleagues, employers, merchants, suppliers, and government agencies—will hinge on your access to these parties, and they to you, through online communities of all shapes and sizes."

For 2010, I hope companies resolve to at least consider social media with an open mind.  Dig a little.  Listen.  Explore.  Dell recently reported being able to trace $6.5 million in revenue to Twitter. As Vice President, Social Media and Community, Manesh Mehta explained in an article on The Huffington Post, social media can give you insights into your business that you can’t find anywhere else.

"Today's corporate leaders are struggling to figure out how to use social media to further their business strategy. At Dell, we believe this is backwards thinking. Social media isn't a means to further a corporation's strategy, it's a means to help determine it."

Even if social media doesn’t make it into the marketing plan for 2010, you should know why it’s not there, why it’s not right for your business.  Times are changing, and chances are, if social’s not right for you today, it might be tomorrow.  Be ready.

2. Think Like A Leader

A thought leader is a person respected by his/her peers and widely known for innovative ideas, thoughtful analysis and fresh insights on a particular topic or industry.  A PR agency is best suited to help you with the first part of that sentence: well respected and widely known.  I’m impressed by the creativity and quality of thought my co-workers display on a daily basis, and a few of us could be considered thought leaders in our own right.  And while we pride ourselves in our ability to immerse ourselves in our clients’ businesses and our experience in the clean/consumer/information tech industries, you know your market best.  What do you think?  

Your PR team can help you strategize about the best way to communicate an idea – how to say it, when to say it, where to say it, whom to say it to – but that idea, that “it,” should start with you.  If you want to be a thought leader in 2010 (and we want you to be one!), don’t be afraid to think like one.

3. Share the Love

Jen in HR is already on Twitter?  Matt the software developer has his own blog?  You published a new white paper on your Web site? Is the sales team kicking off a new promotion? Tell your PR team!  Every year, in our client satisfaction survey Greenough asks clients to evaluate teams on “understanding of my business.”  If your PR firm isn’t a perfect ten in this area, is there anything you can do to help?  The more you share with us, the more we can be a true extension of the marketing team, and the better we’ll be able to tell your company’s story.

Contributed by Catharine Morgan.  Follow her @c_morgan