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Omni-channel marketing is no longer the buzzword du jour. It’s time to dispel the confusion over what it is and adapt to the new world it’s creating for public relations practitioners. Omni-channel is often confused with holistic or integrated marketing communications. It’s different. Forward-thinking clients and CMOs consider it the future and you should, too.

Rebranding is never easy. What is really behind a rebranding effort is an attempt to uproot deeply held misconceptions about a brand; a mere facelift isn’t going to fix these communications problems. As many communicators know, perception can be a powerful force when it’s working against you.

Conversing one-on-one is like writing by hand—they’re both modes of communication that have been eroded by the electronic screens that are perpetually in front of our faces. There’s an important distinction to be made between these two modes. Poor penmanship is not likely to hurt your career, but poor conversational skills likely will hurt your career, particularly if you classify yourself as a professional communicator.

After facing heavy criticism from Bernie Sanders, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam took to LinkedIn the same day to set the record straight. In a post called “Feeling The Bern of Reality — The Facts About Verizon and The ‘Moral Economy,'” he said “The senator’s uninformed views are, in a word, contemptible.” He went on to rebut claims that Verizon underpays taxes and doesn’t help America with its profits.

Conversing one-on-one reminds me of writing by hand—they’re both modes of communication that have been eroded by the electronic screens that are perpetually in front of our faces. There’s an important distinction to be made… Continued

Instagram isn’t just for companies with visually appealing products. Every brand—even B2B, nonprofits and associations—can use this optically intense platform. It’s an established fact that visual storytelling yields the highest rate of engagement, and there’s no better place to do it than Instagram. These tips can help you shift some of your brand communications away from text and toward visuals.

As tech companies continue to invest in bot technology, automation is on the road to becoming the default way customers interact with businesses in a variety of different ways. Facebook announced that the company is set to begin a broad implementation of bots into its already incredibly popular Messenger app. With its access to more than 900 million users and 50 million businesses already on the platform, Facebook’s move could be seen as the most viable shift to bring bot technology into the communications mainstream.

When you’re putting together preparations for the possibility of a crisis, internal communications is usually not the first thing to come to mind. But it’s an essential part of crisis response preparedness; you must loop in employees, owners, board members, investors and the wider community (including the families and business associates of all the above) if you want to maintain your reputation.

Twitter was abuzz on National Equal Pay Day. Top tweeters seemed to be politicians, political organizations, media brands and unions. A few brands touted their gender-neutral compensation bona fides today on social. On the other hand, many brands seemed to approach the day cautiously, preferring to remain silent on social rather than wade in on what could be seen as a controversial topic.

Jumping on trending hashtags is something that brands should take very seriously. We’ve all seen brands haphazardly insert themselves into a trending topic only to go down in flames moments later. At times, social media is serious business and it pays to keep a close eye on the conversations happening online. But at other times, like today’s #NationalGrilledCheeseDay, jumping on trends is relatively safe and can add some fun to your branded communications.