Vox Optima LLC

No. 2. Media Coverage The most important KPI for assessing PR impact is media coverage—specifically, the number of media hits. This metric reflects visibility and reach, with each hit generating valuable backlinks. Backlinks improve SEO, drive organic traffic and enhance brand credibility. Therefore, tracking media hits is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of PR efforts and their impact on online presence. ~ Marilyn Cowley, PREM - PR & Social via Forbes Agency Council

Divide Your Talk into Distinct Sections Understanding your audience is crucial. Knowing their background and expectations can significantly impact your presentation's effectiveness. Structure your talk into distinct sections to help maintain engagement. If someone gets distracted, they can easily rejoin the conversation in the next segment. ~ via Restack

Why interactive content marketing works Interactive content is now a must-have tool for marketers. According to Forbes, the number of businesses incorporating interactive content into their marketing strategies doubled from 2023 to 2024. So, what makes interactive content so compelling? For the reader, it turns static content into an engaging experience that’s fun, informative, helpful, captivating, or delightfully personalized. It makes your content (and ultimately your brand) more relevant to their lives. It’s a win for the brand, too. Interactive content boosts engagement by inviting your audience to actively participate. It can give you valuable insights into your customers’ preferences. It helps your brand stand out from the competition. Plus, it promotes brand loyalty by creating memorable, interactive moments. And let’s not forget about the SEO perks of interactive content. It keeps readers glued to the page (after all, who wouldn’t want to stick around for an interactive experience rather than just another wall of text?). This keeps bounce rates in check and increases the amount of time readers spend on the page, signaling to search engines that your content is both valuable and relevant. ~ Joni Sweet via Contently

Competition is healthy When you want your job, you want to win. You don’t want to stand in the sidelines as someone else’s work gets made. You don’t want to see another agency announce their new win with your agency in the also-rans. Wanting your job translates to wanting to do the job, not simply watching others do it. And that means you want to win. Only recently, I watched a young creative sell a piece of work to a client. She couldn’t stop herself punching the air with delight. She won and it felt great; and not just for her. ~ Alastair Mills via The Drum

Choosing the Right Story Curve for Your Brand The key to effective storytelling in marketing is deciding which curve best aligns with your audience, industry, and company mission. For example, one of the most iconic examples of the “Man in a Hole” narrative is Apple’s “Think Different” campaign, which positioned Apple as the brand for misfits and rebels. At the time, Apple was a misfit, facing a challenging market that was dominated by traditional tech companies like Microsoft and IBM. Instead of emphasizing technical features of their product like everyone else was, Apple’s marketing team went the opposite direction, leaned into their underdog status, and embraced an emotional narrative: if you’re different, Apple is for you. By turning adversity into strength and elevating it into a story, Apple went from being the brand for the overlooked to becoming synonymous with innovation and creativity. ~ Kipp Bodnar via HubSpot

AI chatbots designed for public use are trained to avoid providing potentially hateful or harmful information. However, researchers have been finding various methods to bypass these guardrails through the use of prompt injection, which involves deceiving the chatbot rather than using sophisticated hacking. The new AI jailbreak discovered by Palo Alto Networks involves a minimum of two interactions and may improve if an additional interaction is used. The attack works by embedding unsafe topics among benign ones, first asking the chatbot to logically connect several events (including a restricted topic), and then asking it to elaborate on the details of each event. ~ Eduard Kovacs VIA SecurityWeek https://ow.ly/XvTa50TSynj

#FrankensteinFriday

Seamless Communication & Engagement #Digitalsignage is all about communicating the right message to the right people at the right time. Let's say you have different groups of customers or departments – you can tailor your messages to each group to make sure it resonates with them. You can use eye-catching visuals, videos, and even animations to really grab attention. Want to get your audience involved? Add touchscreens, polls, or even interactive games to your displays. This makes the experience more fun and memorable. And the best part is, you can connect your digital signage to your social media, mobile apps, and email campaigns to create a consistent brand experience across all channels. ~ Roman Filyakov via LOOK Digital Signage

The impact of effective internal communication campaigns A successful internal communication strategy offers a significant business advantage. Employees become more informed, aligned with the company’s mission, and recognize their essential role in achieving goals. An added bonus? They’re more likely to share the company’s story externally, becoming brand advocates. Simply put, when a company is forthright and transparent about news—both good and bad—employees will respond positively. And let’s be clear: Today’s employees not only appreciate transparent communication, they expect it. ~ Firstup

Meta Meta is offering a number of new features designed to protect teens from sextortion scams. These damaging schemes often pay off the shame and fear of young people for profit. Some accounts sending spam signals will now have follow requests automatically sent to the spam folder. Teens will also receive a warning when they’re chatting with someone in another country, regardless of what their profile indicates. Accounts suspected of spam will also be blocked from viewing a user’s followers and following account — often these lists are used in extortion bids. Screenshots will also be blocked from content sent using “view once” options. ~ Allison Carter via Ragan Communications and PR Daily