The Wax Blog

03 Mar

Posted at 10:47h in Uncategorized by
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Thanks to freelancer Mariana Ashley for this piece.  Many of our readers struggle with the choice, especially with companies beginning to hire again, whether to suffer the slings and arrows of self-employment/entrepreneurship or to go back to a corporate career. Neither choice is "right" or "wrong" - but if you do choose to return to corporate life, here are some great suggestions for the transition! The recent economic recession has not only changed the face of the market, but also the state of jobs. Work is becoming more difficult to come by, and with so many people facing a bleak financial future if they stay on their current career paths, it is no surprise that many freelancers in the public relations field are now going back to full-time positions in order to make ends meet. Transitioning from freelancing to working full-time can be tough. Before you can even make that change, however, you will need to find a job. If you are still looking to stick within public relations, look for leads with your past clients and update your resume to reflect all of your freelance experience. You may also need to brush up on your interview skills if you have not been in the job market for a particularly long time.

01 Mar

Posted at 07:51h in Integrated Marketing by
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Legacy seems to be a very popular name for marketing firms, or so I found out when I googled "marketing legacy" to try to get ideas for this blog post. Lyric Marketing's blog tells me in order to leave a good legacy I have to be authentic, provide valuable content, show my personality..I'm sure all these things are true but they really don't help me understand what that legacy thing actually is. The legal guys say it's a gift of personal property. The dictionary guys say it's anything handed down from the past. Christians seem to write a lot about leaving a good legacy for their children. Environmentalists talk about leaving a legacy that includes a healthier planet. eHow even has an article about leaving a good legacy through your writing. I once wrote about how marketing karma could help or hinder your business. I think I'm going to have to solve this "legacy" question by giving you a list of questions to ask yourself about your product or service. (And to be fair, I've answered them as well)

28 Feb

Posted at 10:41h in Integrated Marketing by
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[caption id="attachment_2879" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Terrill/AP"][/caption] With as much emphasis as we marketers make on the appeal of youth and beauty to promote products, I thought it was interesting that the best moments came at the 2011 Academy Awards came not from the young, gorgeous hosts there to pull in the elusive 18-34....the best Oscar moments came from the older crowd.  There are some lessons we can learn from last night's broadcast. First, let's talk about James Franco and Anne Hathaway. I thought he was a rather odd choice given all of the really funny younger comedians available.

24 Feb

Posted at 08:58h in Integrated Marketing by
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There's a new wave of journalism being funded by various non-profits and academic institutions and one of the most interesting is Spot.us The site has gotten a flurry of big media hits lately and social media marketers are scrambling to figure out how to incorporate Spot.us into their outreach strategies. Here's what Spot.us says is their mission:

21 Feb

Posted at 09:16h in Public Relations by
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I wrote a while ago about how to tell if your PR person was "doing the dance" .  In other words, are they full of rosy promises accompanied by a fat retainer that never really gets you any good placements? Now that businesses seem to be doing a bit better  there are several who are thinking about investing in public relations once again. Thankfully, the last two years have weeded out some of the worst communications and PR people freelancers  but there are still quite a few hacks out there. I often compare finding  a PR person to choosing a plastic surgeon. You really are picking the person or agency who is going to be presenting your new "face" to the media and subsequently the entire public. Here are a few things I would suggest...PR's please add some of your own!

17 Feb

Posted at 12:33h in How to Pitch, Public Relations by
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It's clear that today's media environment has made placements in print magazines more and more challenging for the Average Josephine. Although the blood loss may have slowed, magazines have reduced editorial pages significantly over the past few years. Of the pages that remain, many are forced to promise coverage to advertisers in order to stay afloat. Add to that the fact that most editors are doing 3x the job they used to because of staff cuts, and it's a tough challenge. Yet print magazines still remain (in my opinion, certainly not everyone's) an important part of many media campaigns. Getting an editor's attention can be key to promoting your product, book or service. In the last couple of years, we've started doing things a little differently here at Wax...and I'd like to share some of the creative ways we get an editor's attention.