Presenting Our JASPER

Proudly showing off our Silver JASPER award from Jersey Shore Public Relations and Advertising Association, for our video documentary, produced for The Pines at Whiting Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC)! Above, from left, video documentary producers Steve Lubetkin, president of Lubetkin Global Communications; Debbie Israel, president of PROFIT Communications; Charity Roszel, Pines at Whiting resident and one of the stars of the documentary; Bill Janson, president and CEO of The Pines at Whiting; Mary Jane Ousley, Pines at Whiting resident and another documentary star; and Paulette Kaufman, marketing, of Whiting, N.J.

PROFIT Takes the Silver JASPER Award for Documentary

By Debbie Israel, APR

President, PROFIT Communications

We're extremely proud to announce that PROFIT Communications has been awarded a JASPER Award, along with collaborator Lubetkin Global Communications of Cherry Hill, N.J., for video production! We snagged the Silver JASPER Award in the Television/Video Documentary category (10-30 minutes).

We were recognized by the Jersey Shore Shore Public Relations and Advertising Association (JSPRAA) for a documentary we produced for The Pines at Whiting, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Manchester Township, N.J.

We worked alongside Lubetkin Communications to produce the 11-minute film, to interview residents at the retirement community, who explained, in their own words, why those considering a CCRC should make the move while they can enjoy activities and amenities there, rather than waiting until a health crisis forces an emergency decision.

"This video allows [prospective residents] to focus on the authentic concerns and possible vulnerabilities that come with aging," said Bill Janson, Pines at Whiting president. "The life situations our residents shared are a gift to future residents in how to plan well for the future."

This marks the fifth time in the last 10 years that PROFIT has been recognized by our peers in the industry from professional communications organizations.

Watch our award-winning video documentary here.

Website Power & Presence - a Must for Business Survival

By Debbie Israel, APR
President, PROFIT Communications

Nowadays, after your business name, logo and marketing plan, a website is your most important marketing tool.

When businesses ask us how to prioritize time and budget dollars for marketing communication purposes, we almost always say, “Get your website in order first.”

Visualize the hub of a wheel, with the spokes connecting to this centerpiece. The website is your hub, and everything else should be designed to complement and drive traffic there.

Even if you already have a website, implement the following points of to get the most positive return on your Internet real estate investment.

• Keep the content updated and fresh - as in update at least monthly
• Make sure your content is relevant and authentic
• Add interactive material, such as audio and video podcasts
• Identify keywords and phrases for your business, and insert or embed them into all site content, including photo captions and images
• Drive traffic directly to your website via brochures, media presence, business cards and advertisements
• Generate “viral” exposure by using social media, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and my personal favorite: blogs
• Effective websites are:
  √ Professional
  √ Consistent
  √ Simple
  

• Keep the structure organized and simple – users should be able to get anywhere on your site within two or three clicks
• Find ways to engage your readers faster, and encourage them stay longer each time they visit your site
• Keep important content and links “above the fold.” In other words, eliminate long chunks of content that involve a lot of page scrolling
• Website readers don’t typically read, they scan, so strategically focus users’ attention. For example, the eye naturally travels from the top left down to the middle of the page.
• Always use high-quality images
• Don’t direct users away from your site by linking to other websites

Review, renew and refresh when it comes to website development and maintenance. If you need help creating or polishing your site, call the PROFIT Team!

Words of the Year

By Sarah Cocchimiglio
PROFIT Communications PR Assistant-Writer/Editor

Words.
We couldn’t live without them. As public relations professionals, we couldn’t do our jobs without them. In fact, there aren’t many jobs where words aren’t exchanged, be it in a meeting, an e-mail, a report.

Did you know that one word was chosen to represent the year 2010 in the history books? The American Dialect Association decided last month that the Word of the Year should be “app.” As in, “There’s an app for that.”

“App” had some steep competition. According the Philadelphia Inquirer, the folks at Merriam-Webster thought it should be “austerity,” the quality or state of being austere, or enforced or extreme economy, which was searched more than 250,000 times last year.

Facebook’s word of the year wasn’t even a word. “HMU”, a tech-speak acronym for “hit me up,” or “I’m available, call/text/e-mail/Skype me.”

How will the wordsmiths sum up this year? Although there is still much of 2011 to go, chances are good it will have something to do with either the economy or the environment, with politics or social networks, with pop culture or international conflict.

Maybe Sarah Palin, who coined the portmanteau “refudiate” (refute + repudiate) will put forth another brilliant word mashup, like cross-hairdresser or politickle. (She’s making fun, don’tcha know.)

With Academy Award-nominated flicks, like True Grit, The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right and The King’s Speech, perhaps the word will be more like “authentic?” Or in the true fanatical spirit of Philadelphia, let’s hope the word of the year will be “champions,” because one of our sports teams makes it to the Promised Land. (Go Phils - pitchers and catchers report this week!)

Does Apple have another iSomethingOrOther in the works? “App”arently, the tech giant has a major sphere of influence as far as gadgets go, noting the unparalleled success of its iPod, iPhone and iPad products.

Or will the brewing situation in Egypt and the Middle East stay on the front page long enough for “revolution” to be a word-of-the-year candidate?

Do you think the word for 2010 was “app”ropriate? We know it’s early, but what terms do you think will be in the running for Word of the Year 2011? Share your thoughts and be sure to check back next January to see if you were close!

*The Council of PR Firms 4th Quarter Member Survey Results Reveal – Let the Good Times Roll

Excerpts from the Council of PR Firms 1/19/2011 Blog

Well, the fourth quarter survey results are in, and they’re even better than what was reported about the rebound in business and growing optimism in the future when compared to the Council of PR Firm’s 3rd third quarter survey! And the survey says…

Fifty-five firms responded to the survey (49.1% of them had revenues between $3 million and $10 million, and 27.3% had revenues between $10 million and $50 million). More than 80 percent of firms reported that their final 2010 revenues had exceeded 2009 numbers. That was even higher than the roughly 70 percent in the October survey who had expected a year-over-year increase. And the picture gets rosier. Two thirds (67%) of firms reported double-digit revenue growth in 2010. Six in ten firms (58.2%) expected PR budgets to be higher in 2011, and only two percent expected them to decline in size.

The Council’s Chair, Weber Shandwick’s President Andy Polansky, weighed in on the results:

“We’re enthusiastic about the market dynamics right now. Our industry continues to transform itself to better partner and engage with clients across the full spectrum of marketing and corporate communications services, and we are seeing more and more that PR is leading the charge for these efforts. This is particularly true in the digital and social media space. The survey results reflect renewed optimism and the opportunity for continued growth.”

New business pipelines seem to be opening wider. A full 56.4 percent of firms reported that new business prospects were stronger than a year ago, with the vast majority firms (76.4%) citing social media as one of the strongest expected growth areas. Other areas where firms were expecting the most new business growth included consumer marketing (listed by 58.2% of firms), issues and crisis management (30.9%), and corporate communication (27.3%).

Why is the PR industry doing so well in the marketplace? Clearly we’re able to deliver the kinds of solutions that clients want. But we’re also doing more to quantify this value; over half of respondents reported that they had enhanced measurement of return on their clients’ PR dollars during the past year. Nowadays, this is an important discussion to be able to have with all clients.

Overall, we have every reason to feel energized and optimistic as we kick off a new year. Public relations is a dynamic, growing industry that is fueling job growth!

*The Council of PR Firms is the trade association that represents the interests of public relations firms operating in the U.S.