PRSA annually recognizes the best public relations work done at the local, national and international levels for corporate, agency and non-profit clients. This year, Northlich received 17 Blacksmith Awards in several highly-coveted categories.

“We are very fortunate to have a passionate Public Relations/Word of Mouth team and these awards demonstrate our expertise to creative storytelling” said Jennifer Mooney, executive communications director for Northlich. “Thanks to our clients for affording us the opportunity to create great work that continues to receive accolades from our industry peers.”

Northlich received five Blacksmith Awards for:

• Community Relations Campaign for Face:Meth – “Face:Meth Teaches the Community”
• Video for Face:Meth – “Face:Meth Video Shows Dark Side of Meth”
• Twitter for White Castle – “Tweeting with a New Generation of Cravers @WhiteCastle”
• YouTube for justWink – “The Voice of a Generation”
• Special Purpose Publication for Northlich – “Telling Northlich’s Health + Wellness Story”

Northlich received 10 Silver Awards for:

• Integrated Marketing Campaign for DSW – “Grand Openings Reach Shoe Lovers in Hillsboro and Allentown”
• Non-Traditional Marketing for DSW – “Where’d You Get Those Shoes? Leg Installations”
• Special Event for DSW – “Fashion Gives – Grand Opening Events for DSW”
• Blogger Outreach for White Castle – “Bloggers Enjoy Breakfast with White Castle”
• Best Placement for Buffalo Wings & Rings – “Buffalo Wings & Rings Lands on Nation’s Restaurant News”
• Facebook for Random House Children’s Books – “Bringing The Emerald Atlas to Life on Facebook”
• Other Social Media for Schneck Medical Center – “Leveraging Passionate Employees to Launch a Facebook Page”
• Website for the Ohio Lottery Commission – “New Online Experience Reaches Future Gamers”
• Special Purpose Publication for Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport – “CVG Soars with Report to Community”
• Employee Event for Northlich – “Northlich Lift’s Employees with Creative Storytelling”

Northlich received two Bronze Awards for:

• Media Kit for Face:Meth – “Face:Meth Kit Focuses on Education”
• Corporate Identity Campaign for Long John Silvers – “Long John Silver’s Tells the Nation ‘We Speak Fish’”

Jennifer’s career in the dynamic cable television industry began when there were 53 channels of service, including the introduction of CNN and MTV. As the industry evolved to more than 500 content-rich channels, Jennifer deployed Beta-tests of a variety of product and services and led communications teams as complex products and services were launched into households, businesses and schools.

“Jennifer has first-hand experience acquired during the revolution of the media environment that enables her to bring a targeted perspective and fresh approach in today’s new digital medium, helping brands reach and connect with consumers in a cluttered environment,” said Kathy Selker, CEO and president of Northlich. “She has worked across the nation on a wide range of critical consumer and public facing issues, bringing expertise in communications, public relations and organizational behavior.”

In additional to experience in high technology, telecommunications and the content-rich media business, Jennifer’s career has also included work in hospitality, retail, entertainment, financial/banking, healthcare institutions, wellness and philanthropy. She also served as the Chief Communications Officer of The Powers Agency, the Corporate Vice President for Public and Government Affairs for Bright House Networks and the Division Vice President for Time Warner Cable in Cincinnati for 15 years.

Jennifer shares content through several popular blogs, including http://www.themooneygroup.net/, http://www.advertisingweek.com/ and http://www.simply-communicate.com/. Jennifer currently serves on the boards of Learning Through Art in Cincinnati, The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education in Cincinnati, Cincinnati Public Radio and The Alliance for Young Artists and Writers/Scholastic Foundation in New York City. She is an Emeritus board member for The Cincinnati Museum Center, and was a longtime member of Cincinnatus and board member for The Contemporary Arts Center. She is a past member of the Jewish Federation Board of Central Florida as well as the MS Society. Jennifer is a Vanguard Award winner for government/community relations and is the recipient of numerous leadership awards from leading regional organizations in Ohio, Florida and Washington, DC.

Jennifer received her undergraduate (BA/Journalism/Geology) degree from Albion College and her MA in Psychology from The Union Institute/Vermont College.

The conference featured some of the most influential leaders in word of mouth and social media marketing including Brian Solis, Geno Church, John Moore, Duncan Watts, and more. We garnered insights on topics ranging from mobile marketing, to influencer outreach, to bringing sexy back to offline marketing. One consistent thread throughout the entire conference was – every single consumer touchpoint provides an opportunity to make your brand talkable.

Every time a consumer interacts with your brand (whether that is using your restaurant’s bathroom, reading your product label on a store shelf, or engaging with your staff) it is an opportunity to make a consumer not only remember your brand, but to fall in love with your brand and to tell others about it.

Word of mouth is all about giving people reasons to talk about your brand – what are you doing to keep your brand talkable?

To find a few more lessons from school, check out our tweets from @auntiekaykay and @Collopyj1.

That’s how I draw – I deconstruct and reinvent. I create logos for small businesses and corporate giants. Most recently, I applied Johnny’s methodology to a unique assignment from client Long John Silver’s®. They asked me to contemporize the brand’s 40-year-old worldwide icon, without compromising its legacy. They were the first in the restaurant industry to feature a fish on their logo. So, this one had to be an icon and timeless.

I started drawing every fish cliché I could think of. The images kept morphing into more complex fish with elaborate shapes and details. After dozens of thumbnails, similarities became evident and I began to deconstruct it into a non-descript image, void of style. Once it no longer resembled a fish, the image took on new clarity for me and I was able to reintroduce the missing components. Turning it, ultimately, into this.

1. Finally Revealed: The Best Time To Send Out Your Email Campaign
2. The Digital Revolution: Is It More Sizzle Than Steak?
3. Using QR Codes As Marketing Tools
4. The 60 Second Close: Three Key Strategies No One Else Tells You About

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1. Finally Revealed: The Best Time To Send Out Your Email Campaign

• A new study from online marketer Hubspot, (www.hubspot.com) reveals the most effective time to send an email broadcast to your customers, no matter which business category you are in, is early Saturday morning.
   
• Weekend email campaigns tend to have a much higher click-through rate (CTR) than those sent during the week, which means more consumers read your emails and fewer opt-out.
   
• During the weekend, recipients seem to be more relaxed and ready to read email, rather than tackling all of their email messages on a harried workday.
   
• Send out your next email campaign Saturday morning and track the CTR. Keep in mind your CTR also depends on how well your list is segmented (so your customers get relevant information) and how attention-grabbing your message is.

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2.  The Digital Revolution: Is It More Sizzle Than Steak?

• We are in the middle of a digital revolution. Millions of consumers are making purchases based on information found through their computer or smartphone.
   
• Because of that, companies of every category view the digital landscape as an advertising bonanza – a new mecca to increase sales and promote products while reaching millions of eyeballs.
   
• But many companies are approaching this new frontier with a gold-rush mentality, without strategically considering the prime purpose of marketing – to increase profits.
   
• The reality is that huge traffic counts don’t necessarily translate into sales and some digital media formats just don’t play out as great advertising and profit-building platforms.
   
• The fact is, digital tactics alone will not dramatically affect your sales. They must be integrated into your plan, complimenting your traditional marketing efforts.

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3.  Using QR Codes As Marketing Tools

• With the increasingly popularity of smartphones, QR (Quick Response) Codes are ready to go mainstream and play an important role in linking your customers and clients to valuable digital content via their smartphone.
   
• Manufacturing companies are putting QR codes on their catalogues and packaging to provide additional selling information or instructions.
   
• Retailers and service companies are placing QR Codes on merchandise, promotional products, store fronts, for-sale signs, menus, print ads and business cards to tell additional stories about their products, such as up-selling opportunities, testimonials and product reviews.
   
• To find out which scanner is best for your smartphone model, search online for “QR Code readers.” To learn how to generate and send a code back to your digital content, search “QR Code generators.” The smartphone scanners and generators are free; all you provide is the content for viewing.

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4. The 60 Second Close: Three Key Strategies No One Else Tells You About 

• We’ve provided three important strategies to consider as you move your marketing efforts forward: effective timing of your email campaigns, establishing a digital strategy and implementing a QR code program. 
   
• With your customers and clients going through a shift using today’s technology, your marketing has to adjust also. And while some of the new platforms are quite attractive, will they increase your bottom-line profits? 
   
• Rather than jumping on bandwagons, our goal is to help you determine what is going to work best for your company that will increase your profits.
   
• That’s what we do for our clients and would love the opportunity to do that for you. Just call us. We can get you there … faster than ever.
   

More and more, people want—and expect—information at their fingertips. And research is predicting that within five years, more people will access their mobile devices than PCs. As marketers, we need to meet our consumers at their connection points. And as experts in the healthcare industry, we’ve identified a number of opportunities for hospitals to be more accessible to their patients and physicians with web sites formatted for mobile usage, as well as mobile phone apps. Having that top-of-mind hospital app for on-the-go consumers and physicians can give hospitals an edge. Just think of the possibilities – strengthening your community presence, extending your infrastructure, expanding your patient education offerings and supporting your physicians – whenever and wherever your customers need access.

If you are looking for ways to maximize your communication opportunities, visit us at http://www.northlichhealth.com.

60 Second Articles:

1. Why Word Of Mouth Is More Important Than Buzz
2. How To Improve Your Chances For A Top Listing On Google Places
3. Did You Know? Factoids For Meaningful Conversations With Customers
4. The 60 Second Close: Staying A Few Steps Ahead

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1. Why Word Of Mouth Is More Important Than Buzz

• People often use “buzz” and “word of mouth” interchangeably. Buzz typically centers around a one-time event and has a short life span. The buzz surrounding last month’s Super Bowl ads, for example, created excitement for about a week and then suddenly disappeared.

• Word of mouth – the most successful and efficient way to increase sales – is a long-term process based on the interesting, unique and common-sense way your company does business each day, interacting with your customers.

• Word of mouth marketing should be an integral part of your company’s sales-building plan. Every customer touch point should create an interesting experience that encourages your customers and clients to share those experiences with others. The more your customers talk about you, the more your reputation spreads and sales increase.

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2. How To Improve Your Chances For A Top Listing On Google Places

• Google, Yahoo and Bing are placing a heavy focus on “local search” for every business category.

• Run a Google search for “your product or service in <City, State>” and the first result you’ll see, above the organic rankings, is a Google Places listing of five to eight local businesses.

• Obviously, every company would like to be included on that visible part of the list. Most believe the only way to get there is to first claim your company’s name on Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing, then fill out the form and cross your fingers.

• But what most don’t realize is that, beyond registering your business name, the search engine’s algorithm is likely spidering for additional geographical information on your company’s web pages.

• Here are four critical tips to give you an advantage in boosting your rank on Google Places:

1. When you claim your business and fill out the form, the description portion should include keyword phrases commonly used by those searching the Internet for you, along with your address.
2. Ensure your company’s complete address – city, state and zip code – is listed in text (not embedded in an image) on your website’s home page and on all of your other web pages. Include street intersections if applicable.
3. Add an embedded Google Map of your location to your home page.
4. Insert a geo-meta tag in the header on each page of your website. Get the code at: http://geo-tag.de/generator/en.html

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3. Did You Know? Factoids For Meaningful Conversations With Customers

• We’re Reading Newspapers Online: Daily newspaper websites collectively reach 32.3% of U.S. consumers in a typical month, up from 30.3% in 2008. (Source: The Media Audit)
• Out With The Office Computers, In With Tablets: Tablets are the new corporate rage, growing at a rate much faster than computers ever did. Over 30 per cent of North American companies are already equipping some employees with tablets and this rate is expected to dramatically increase as more tablets are introduced into the marketplace. (Source: Forrester Research, Globe & Mail)
• Kentucky Owns March Madness Title: Adults living in Lexington Kentucky, are among the nation’s top collegiate basketball fans with 76.3% of adults in Lexington regularly following college basketball on radio or TV. Their neighbor in the state, Louisville, ranks second in the national survey with 70.6%. (Source: The Media Audit)

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4. The 60 Second Close: Staying A Few Steps Ahead

• With the Internet and social media making our world much smaller, word of mouth now plays a huge part in your company’s success. Positive and negative comments can circulate among millions of people within seconds.

• Still, you can control what your customers say about you by encouraging favorable chitchat. Need help in developing a word of mouth plan? It’s just one of the many things we do. Need assistance in getting a better position on Google Places? We can help.

• We stay one step ahead, so you can stay ahead of your competition. To find out more on how to stay ahead, just call us. We can get you there faster than ever.

But as the conversations progressed and the discussion turned to dealing with potential food crisis and communicating product recalls via social media (my contribution to the panel), I quickly realized there was a gaping disconnect. Suffice it to say I was virtually sitting alone at the table … and it was lonely. And somewhat alarming.

For the past two to three years many of us in the public relations and marketing communications field have been studying, planning, strategizing, communicating and ENGAGING audiences via social media channels and doing so with content and conversations that we sincerely believe matters. But I now realize that in many of these engagements the true “experts” – those with years of first-hand experience and battle scars earned saving lives and averting disaster – are often left sitting on the side lines in times of crisis. It’s as if the tables have been shifted and the proverbial card table is now overflowing with expert opinion, hard-fought for and well-deserved accredited initials, and voices that should and must be heard.

So, when will these “experts” join us at the BIG table? When we make room for them and invite them to share, participate and engage. Let’s add a leaf (or two or three) to the Social Media table and pull up more chairs. There’s always plenty of opinion. Let’s be sure to add some “experts.”

The Canstruction® competition creatively combines design skills and canned food collection. The annual event attracts teams of architects, engineers, and contractors who compete to design and build giant structures made entirely of food cans. The entries are judged and displayed in local venues before being donated to food banks. Since its inception in 1992, Canstruction has contributed more than 15 million pounds of food worldwide.

The Cincinnati design community joined the movement in 1997. To date, the Cincinnati Canstruction competition has donated 450,000 pounds of canned food to the Freestore Foodbank, as well as garnering international attention. I took notice 14 years ago when I witnessed the sheer magnificence of a sculpture being assembled in New York City and realized how valuable all those cans could be to our local food bank. Amazed and inspired, I volunteered to bring the competition to Cincinnati and have chaired the event ever since. Cincinnati Canstruction continues to inspire new entries each year and has expanded to five downtown venues:  Duke Energy Headquarters, Weston Art Gallery, the Downtown Public Library, Scripps Center and the Contemporary Arts Center. The 2011 entries are on display through March 20. I invite you to see what one can, CAN do!