Technology is one of PR people’s biggest loves. From the phone and fax to today’s mobile devices and email clients, it does make our lives a lot easier, constantly giving us quicker and broader access to the global markets. Getting in touch with virtually anybody is a matter of minutes. Sure, you still have to do your research and think of the most effective approach, but there’s nothing you can’t get your hands on: data, contact details, ideas and inspiration, something faster and more powerful, pretty much everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

Part of being a good PR professional involves being open to new tech developments. We need to take it all in, software, gadgets, communication channels, and they all keep rushing in, getting better and more effective, more often than not more complicated or difficult to measure.  Continue reading

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We are extremely proud that Mirror Communications‘ client CoSoSys, a developer of endpoint security, device control and data loss prevention solutions, has been included in this year’s edition of Deloitte’s 2011 Technology FAST 50 top for Central Europe. CoSoSys is now part of a prestigious and very competitive list, where a technology company’s intellectual property and the subsequent revenue growth are evaluated and rewarded.

Deloitte’s FAST 50 not only rewards innovation and major contributions to the technology market. It also shows the world how intellectual property actually generates business growth, as the companies ranked have an impressive year to year revenue growth. The growth rate is not the only factor, there is a minimum revenue required to make the list and the chunk of budget invested in research and development is also important.

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Photo credit: carolsg on Fotolia.com

Guest post by Mihaela Lica Butler

With the June ICANN announcement that the gTLDs spectrum  will be enriched with .brands, it became obvious that the Internet, as we know it, will soon change, and the war for relevant online real estate is afoot.  Verisign predicted 1,500+ New gTLD applications for the first window , between 12 January 2012 – 12 April 2012; but ICANN will only select 500 of them all – who will be the lucky few?

Considering the  it costs $185,000 to apply for a new gTLD extension and an additional $25,000 per year to keep it active, it’s easy to assume that the lucky few will also be the powerful few, namely, those companies that understand the branding value of such domain extensions, and in the end, the PR value. PR because a branded domain is a more reliable source for the customer, and also because brand value is a part of an integrated PR strategy, after all.

Many believe that ICANN’s near $200,000 price is too high, but the long term picture seems more than rewarding. A branded domain is a stronger domain, possibly ranking higher in search, particularly in Google – as the search engine giant is already giving priority placement to relevant brands. For instance, Hilton already ranks at the top for their own brand, and for Hilton hotel deals. But there are also other travel sites selling Hilton hotel deals – and for the traveler who wants to book a room with Hilton, the latest may not be as reliable. Only the original Hilton site offers the “trust” factor, but sometimes, finding these deals on the site is not the easiest thing to do. If Hilton would structure its offerings to something highly relevant, the users, and the company, can only benefit. A .brand gTLD could be used for this purpose, and the new URL could be www.deals.hilton. Continue reading

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The Sony PlayStation network hack and the millions of customer whose private information might have been accessed is one of the prominent headlines this week. So was TJX and their security breach at its time, being considered the largest data breach in history as over 40 million credit cards had been stolen throughout their stores in the US and Canada. So was every big financial data breach.

For those of you who don’t know, one of Mirror Communications’ clients, CoSoSys, develops endpoint security and data loss prevention solutions. Since I fist started to work with them, more than three years ago, I have been reading about data breaches every single day. I cannot remember the number of hospitals exposing patient data, financial institutions having client details stolen by employees, laptops and flash drives with important databases being lost or stolen, or the number of instances where military units (in the US or other countries) where either broken into and having data stolen or lost because they either weren’t paying attention, or because they did not care to properly dispose of it.

What lacks more than the obvious protection against such security breaches is knowing how to deal with the PR crisis that follows the data loss or theft. So after personally reviewing so many PR fails when it comes to data breaches, here’s a quick guide made up of useful tips to help you better deal with the consequences: Continue reading

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Guest post by the Workbooks team

Having accurate records of communications with your clients is vital for any business. Networking, marketing, sales and retention of clients all rely heavily on the ability to easily recall and check on previous interactions. Some of the best tools on the market today that can be used to track and analyse communications and interactions with clients are web-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software packages.

What is Customer Relationship Management?

Customer Relationship Management is a strategy for managing your company or business’s communications and interactions with customers and potential customers. Various Customer Relationship Management software packages are available that provide tracking, organization and analysis of various business processes, including marketing, sales, customer service and technical support. Web-based CRM software is especially popular as it provides unparalleled flexibility and accessibility to the software for employees and business owners alike. Continue reading

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