Earned Media: The Times Catch Up with Click
Feb 28, 2013

A few years ago, Mac and I got to visit the Castle set and meet one of our favorite actors, Nathan Fillion. First, because I know this is what you really want to know, I can tell you that he was as nice and funny and gracious as everyone who’s ever met or worked with him says he is.

Second, when we told him that we ran a PR agency that specialized in online outreach he joked with us, “Oh, so you think this Internet fad is going to stick around?”

I tell this story not just to brag that we met the original “Cap’n Tightpants” and he was awesome, but also because in our first conversation, he understood that creating a PR agency of online specialists seemed like a pretty good idea. Of course, this is something we’ve also believed for years, it just hasn’t always been treated like a top priority.

That is all changing. Whether you call it online PR, digital Publicity, earned media, or whatever the current buzz word is, that thing we’ve been doing for years now has started to get some national attention with articles talking about how important good digital publicity is, and how to find the agency that’s right for you.

Of course, we think that if you’re looking for a new PR agency then there’s a more than excellent chance that Click is the agency for you, but let’s set that aside for a second and just talk about why having strong digital PR partners is such a great idea.

Online PR is important because…

Good online PR increases your search results. Yesterday, Inc.com published an article entitled “SEO Strategy: Link Building is Obsolete” that talks about key differences between earned media and search engine advertising, or link building, when it comes to maximizing search results. In an age where all of us are masters of “Google-fu,” it’s more important than ever to make sure you have all the best bases covered when potential consumers are researching your product.

Stories give your network something to talk about. Think about what your favorite social feeds contain: pictures of peoples’ kids, of course. Funny cat videos, gifs of Jennifer Lawrence making faces, sure. They also include stories. Links to news, blogs, op-ed pieces about this story, that product, this election, that person.

Generating social engagement for your brand is still important, because it allows companies to create dialogues and even relationships directly with their consumers, and that’s awesome. But at the end of the day, consumers still know that the person on Facebook saying “This is the greatest product ever, buy it!” is… the person selling the product. So show them that you aren’t alone in thinking your property is the greatest ever, and show them that you aren’t the only one on the Internet talking about it. You can do this with great online PR.

Good online publicity helps yield good publicity everywhere else. Because of the fast-breaking nature of all news on the Internet, it would be easy to put off online outreach as more of a last-minute effort, or treat online coverage as a consolation prize for whatever coverage didn’t happen with traditional outlets. As online PR specialists we’ve been saying for years that digital outreach should be a much higher priority, of course, but now it’s more important than ever. Because the thing is, all of the space that publicists have to compete for with print & broadcast outlets is finite, and these outlets have to be super picky about what they cover. Of course they want something fresh, new and newsworthy that hasn’t been done to death; they also want something with enough online buzz to indicate that their audience will be interested in the story. Early online outreach helps make that buzz happen.

 Partnering with a strong online agency is important because…

They will help you strengthen your favorite media relationships. Most journalists would actually rather talk directly with the company telling the story than the PR flack hired to help tell it. They want to have their own relationship with you and access directly to you. We think this is super fine and, in fact, we encourage it as much or as little as our clients want us to. The fact of the matter is, there are thousands upon thousands of sites and blogs and writers and journalists on the Internet (and a handful of wack-a-dos), and no one person has the time to sift through them all, much less build relationships with all of them. But a team of people dedicated to talking to online outlets every day is fully equipped to handle that volume. So if you want to have a direct dialogue with your friend at The Daily Show, The New York Times or Variety, then you should. Spend your time nurturing the relationships that matter most to you and your brand, leave the sifting & relating to everyone else to your excellent PR agency, like Click.

They will help you measure and quantify your success. As a vendor, we don’t get all of the proprietary click-through data of the sites we work with, or get access to our clients’ sales figures. So can we count up exact clicks and conversions for every campaign we do? Without the data I just mentioned, no. That said, earned media campaigns are totally measurable, and quantifiable success is becoming more and more important to online campaigns. Yes, the simple Word doc or pdf of links & bullets & screenshots looks nice and is easy to read on an executive Blackberry, and we will certainly do that report if that’s what our client prefers. On the other hand, when you collect measurable data along with every campaign you do and organize it in a way that’s easy to analyze, then you don’t just have a thick stack of links and pictures; you have quantifiable proof that your earned media just garnered a huge return on your investment. (At least, that’s the kind of reporting you SHOULD be getting. If you’re not, call me.)

They make your job easier. Do our clients constantly challenge us to break with routine, create new outreach strategies, or present them with the next cutting edge new thing on the Internet? Of course! But we bring new ideas, strategies, partnerships, and “next big things” to them as well, because that’s our job. We feel that a good agency wants to be your collaborative partner, bring ideas to you, present you with creative ideas, and then actually execute on the things they suggest. They should alleviate your workload, not create more work for you. And they should be passionate about your projects, and work with an enthusiasm that might even inspire you—especially in the entertainment and leisure brand industry, because come on. This stuff is FUN!

Of course I’m going to say online PR is extremely important and Click is better at it than anyone; this is my company, this is my job. So don’t take my word for it. See what others are saying about what we’ve been saying for years. You’ll see. This wacky online fun, it’s starting to catch on.

By: Dinah McLean

It’s the End of the World as We Know it
Dec 22, 2012

Today probably won’t actually be the end of our time here on Earth, but it is a great time to look back at the year, take stock of all the changes we’ve been through so far, and get excited about the potential of a new year in 2013.

In 2012, we celebrated our Five Year Anniversary, we found some outstanding comic book artists in order to produce the best Comic-Con Survival Guide yet, and made friends with even more outstanding bloggers and online journalists. We added to our long list of strategic partners in order to provide even more services to our clients, and we added to our Click team as well.

You Better Watch Out

We had Scott Arnold’s outstanding artwork from our Comic-Con Survival Guide updated for the holiday card.

The end of 2012 has also brought about some departures for us. First, Jackie Cavanagh moved on to join our friends and colleagues over at MPRM. Then Haley Lierman became the fifth person at Click to be snapped up by a studio, going to Universal. Finally, today is the last day for one of the Click Originals, Dre Birskovich, who will be enjoying the considerably slower pace of yoga instruction in her new home in Northern California.

Click Party 97

Dre wields one mean croquet mallet, and will be missed dearly.

We wish all of our “Clickers 4 Life” the best in their new adventures, and are also very excited to bring some fresh faces into the Click fold in 2013. Especially since we will now be working with everyone in our new office!

To all of our friends, family, clients, press, colleagues and partners in crime, we wish you a very safe and happy holiday season!

Gremlin

Our digital holiday card, with art by the talented Tess Fowler, was inspired by two of our favorite Christmas movies.

Ho ho ho!

By: Dinah McLean

It’s in the bag? It IS the bag!
Jul 10, 2012

I almost titled this particular post, “Why I’m so excited about our new Click bags because they are the best bags ever,” but that seemed a little long. That said, here’s why I’m so excited about Click’s new reusable bags and why they are the Best Bags Ever.

The Click re-usable bag: Big enough for a Survival Kit, a Guide, and whatever else suits your fancy.

Anyone in marketing can tell you, finding the right promotional items for your brand or product can be a challenge. As someone who has been brainstorming promo items for clients for years, I have found that it’s often tricky to find the thing that’s worth putting a logo on. It has to be clever and timely, and if you’re lucky it will also be a quality product or thing you can actually use.

When we were putting together Survival Kits for our clients for San Diego Comic-Con this year, the number one thing I wanted to include was a reusable bag. I use them all the time, not just for groceries but for all of my shopping. I take them to Target, I take them to the mall, I use them for my dry cleaning, I use them for everything. As a result, I’ve tried a variety of different reusable bags, and have become picky about what constitues a Quality Bag.

My favorites, by far, are made by Envirosax. They meet all of my criteria:

  • They’re big & strong–They can hold a full bag of groceries, including the heavy stuff, and they last forever. I gave one to a friend stuffed with food when her daughter was born. Her daughter is now three, and the bag still goes with them everywhere.
  • They’re washable–If you’re using reusable bags for groceries, you have to be able to wash them. Putting food in unwashed reusable bags is just gross.
  • They’re good looking–You can get a huge variety of colors & patterns to suit your style. My personal favorite is a sharp olive green with a bright white Click logo, of course.
  • They’re super portable–They roll up so small they fit in the palm of your hand. You can stash them in your purse, glove compartment, pockets, almost anywhere, then just unfurl them when you need them. This is particularly clutch for Comic-Con, because it means you don’t have to carry around a bag you can fit a person in all weekend just in case you find a treat you want to find and bring home with you. You can just pop your reusable bag in your pocket, then fill it with toys & swag ’til your heart’s content.

I have at least 3 of these in my purse at all times.

So when I discovered that I could the Click logo on an Envirosax bag, I was thrilled. (Why yes, it IS possible to geek out over more than just movies & comics.) If you were lucky enough to get a bag from us this year, now you know why we were so excited to share these this year. And if you don’t have one yet, then you have one day left to enter to win, or you can play Bingo with us this weekend for a chance of one of your very own. Good luck! Trust me, you really want one of these.

By: Dinah McLean

Taking Your Small Business to the Big Time
May 30, 2012

Recently I participated in a radio interview with my mentor and all-around badass, Renee Fraser, and her Unfinished Business co-host Betsy Berkhemer. The theme of the interview was, “How to Look Big Time Even If You’re a Small or Home-based Business.” (You can listen to my segment here.) After chatting briefly with Renee and Betsy, I found I had more to say on the subject and wanted to expand on my tips.

Mac and I were joking that the problem with doing a radio show or blog about tips for projecting more of a “Big Time” appearance automatically lets your readers or listeners know that you’re small or home-based. Whoops! Then again, we’re very proud of the fact that we’ve built a company that offers best-of-breed services and results in the digital space, supported by a strong team of professionals, and we’ve done it all without the “brick & mortar” walls of a traditional office space. Still, creating a successful new home-based business in the highly competitive online arena—and in the very image-focused LA—is a tricky proposition. In addition to the tips discussed in the radio show, here’s what I think it takes to make it work.

Not as “big time” as Nakatomi Plaza, perhaps, but there’s less chance of Hans Gruber stopping by.

Invest in your brand. Get a logo, buy your domain name, set up a website. Not only do you need to be searchable online so that people can find your business, if you’re running a virtual office in this digital age, you need to at least have an online “storefront.”

For your logo, I highly recommend using a professional graphic designer. A good one will help translate the keywords and feelings you have about your brand into powerful imagery that you can use in all of your online and offline materials. Maintaining consistent branding in all of your company communication sends a very clear message: “We know who we are and we have our act together.”

Establish professional communication channels. First, set up a professional email address, as in “name@businesswebsite.com.” Free email services can be a handy way to get started, but nothing says “amateur” like an email from an executive with a Hotmail account. Second, I highly recommend getting a PO Box. You need one that looks like a street address that can accept FedEx and UPS deliveries. Having this is especially important if, like Click, your business interfaces with thousands of people you may or may not know every day and you don’t want every Tom, Dick and Sid to know where you and your family live.

Finally, you need a dedicated phone line. This is important for three reasons. 1. It allows you to compartmentalize your business and personal calls–either for billing purposes or just because you don’t want to take business calls after office hours. 2. Knowing all calls coming into that line helps you to be your own receptionist. After all, what sounds more professional: the person who answers their cell phone with a simple “Hello,” or the person who answers their business line with, “Thank you for calling Click, this is Dinah, how can I help you?” And 3. If you want to get fancy, you can set up phone numbers for, say, New York and LA, and have them forward to your business line. You publish them both on your website and no one has to know your running your shop out of a garage in Duluth.

Decide and implement company structure and culture before you hire. The internal structure of your business could change over the years, but you should have an idea of how you roll as a company, how the work should flow, and be clear about that to anyone you bring on board. After all, when you’re a one or two-person team, you don’t have to worry about anyone else giving your clients the impression that your company is disorganized and people don’t know who does what. As soon as you bring on anyone else, it’s important to make sure they’re as clear on your company structure and culture as you are.

Treat your home office like, well, an office. The first couple weeks of working from home, it can be very easy to kick back and enjoy the casual benefits—flexible hours that may allow you to sleep in or take breaks in the middle of the day, monitoring emails from your couch, a carefree dress code of pjs and flip flops. And hey, if you can project a high level of professionalism while working in an environment that relaxed, more power to you. Most successful entrepreneurs working from home learn very quickly, however, that they are more productive and professional when they approach their work time, work space and work attitude at home exactly the same as if they were in a high rise downtown. So get up early, shower, put on clothes you’d wear in front of your employees (whether you’re planning to see them or not), set up a dedicated workspace and keep it organized, and focus your time on work during your office hours. (Scott wrote a great post on this theme as well!)

Compartmentalize and focus your time. This is especially tricky for parents because a certain amount of work/family life crossover is inevitable, and you have to be prepared to roll with the punches. Still, I’m a big believer in planning. Plot out a schedule that includes face time with your employees and clients, grouping meetings into the fewest possible days a week if long-distance travel is a factor. I also subscribe to Marley Majcher‘s philosophy of designating certain days of the week for certain kinds of projects. Like “Money Mondays,” “Reporting Tuesdays,” “Meeting Wednesdays,” or whatever works for you.

Keep communication tight. I mentioned this in the interview, but it bears repeating. Good communications builds trust; crappy communication erodes it. This is true whether you have an office or not, but if you have more to prove to clients, then make strong communication a priority. Anticipate needs, be swift as possible with your responses, and above all be honest. When you’re pulled in a hundred directions as an entrepreneur, responding to every email quickly can be a challenge, but the strong relationships you’ll build with your commitment to good communication will be worth it.

One final note on communication: Email has limits. If there’s a concern that the tone of an email could be taken the wrong way, make a phone call instead. If you’re reading an email and you can’t tell if it’s hostile or not, pick up the phone. If an email chain gets to be too long with back and forth clarifications, just get on the horn and figure it out. Or, if the situation is appropriate, use video chat tools and get some face time. That way you can eliminate dumb misunderstandings quickly and alleviate some of the isolation that can come from working from home.

For more tips on how to rock your home-based business like the big-time CEO you truly are, take a listen to Renee and Betsy’s “Unfinished Business.”

By: Dinah McLean

Online Outreach Then and Now: From Problem to Priority
May 4, 2012

When Mac and I looked back at where we were five years ago when we formed Click Communications, we were struck by how much has changed in the world of online publicity since then.

When we first formed Click, we would tell stories about how, back in 2003, no one cared about reaching online audiences, and online journalists didn’t care about home entertainment. We compared that with 2007, a time when many studios realized they needed to be in front of online audiences, but the pool of interested online media had gotten so large that matching the right product and story with the right sites was a fairly daunting proposition.  As such, we were often hired to “solve the online problem.” In fact, once word got out about how handily we could navigate the web, we got really busy really fast, and our company grew from two people to seven in a few short months.

Today, of course, there are a myriad of different ways to “solve the online problem” because the problems are as vast and unique as the people and agencies prepared to take them on. The major difference between online publicity Then and Now, however, is that online has shifted from Problem to Priority.

When online outreach is viewed as a problem to be solved, it automatically makes it a problem to be solved. Everything becomes last-minute and fast breaking, not just because of the dynamic pace of the online medium, but because most long-lead attention is still placed with traditional media. And if traditional media publicity doesn’t meet expectations, online coverage becomes the consolation prize.

When online outreach is viewed as a priority, on the other hand, wonderful things can start to happen. For example, if you wait until the last couple weeks of a campaign to roll out your online strategy, then what happens earlier in the campaign when you’re pitching broadcast and long-lead print publications about your new brand that no one’s ever heard of? Those producers and writers will Google your product and come up with…. Nothing. By contrast, if you prioritize your online outreach early on to take place throughout the life of your campaign, then you build up Google results, conversations and the all-important Buzz.

Our approach at Click has elevated online outreach beyond a priority to become a driving force in campaign strategy. This frees us from some of the old rules and restrictions that can apply to available assets, allowing our team to parcel out exclusive content, premium items, compelling interviews and exciting event opportunities across multiple mediums to reach true market saturation with our ideal audience.

The Click team is also particularly deft at finding new ways of maximizing assets in fresh, creative ways. After all, when it comes to rolling out publicity and marketing materials over a period of time to your target audience, you have to be careful. Think of your assets like ingredients, and your press as a mix of carnivores, vegetarians, foodies and picky children.  You can either parcel out your interviews, video clips and widgets (or meat, vegetables and cheese, if you will), to the people who want each individual item the most. Or you can put them together to form, say, a delicious pizza—something unique and mouth-watering for everyone.

The trick, especially with a long campaign, is to make sure that you’re not pitching the same story to the same person over and over again. I don’t care how much a person likes a pizza—if they hear about it three times a week, they’re going to get sick of it and stop returning your emails.

Luckily for our clients, the Click team avoids this kind of creative fatigue with the right blend of targeting, timing, and our signature Click creativity and genuine enthusiasm. Our online experts are well-rounded, strategic publicity and marketing professionals, ready to lead the way on our clients campaigns, and deliver outstanding (and occasionally delicious) results.

By: Dinah McLean

Click Counts Down to the Games
Mar 20, 2012

To say the Click Team is excited to see The Hunger Games would be an understatement. We have a plan to gather in Pasadena, have some snacks and see the film together on opening day. But perhaps no one is more excited than our own Haley Lierman, who penned this ode in anticipation. Enjoy.

Hunger Games Poem

Time to pack up your arrows, and pick up your bow

Grab your mockingjay pin and your orange pack in tow

Say farewell to your friends, your loved ones, and kin

Because 7:30 this Friday the Games will begin.

You’ve been drawn from all districts of the City LA

And now the lottery’s made clear that it’s your turn to play.

You can’t run or hide, so paint on your flames

And get your bad ass to the Click Hunger Games.

You have only a minute to grab your pack

(And it’s no combo pack with a BD stack).

If you’re lucky you might get yourself away from the zoo

Before Mac the Career will dice you in two.

Find water, a weapon, and maybe some food–

If you can’t find all three, you probably are screwed.

Dinah’s got a bow, and it your turn to run

Because with that in her hands she’s already won.

Tyler, oh Tyler, let’s be honest, he’s dead

Julie took him out with knife to the head.

Kim’s now got a sword but there’s no time to discuss.

If we stick around she’ll go Zelda on us.

Emily and Tommy: we know they’re a team

Much like Thing 1 and Thing 2, we know they can scheme…

Jackie’s got explosive experience; I hear she’s the best

But Dre, she’ll sneak up on you while you’re taking a rest.

Game Maker Scott, he can’t be ignored

Because he’ll kill us all if the Capitol’s bored.

We’ll fight to the death!… After we eat some good food

In Pasadena on Friday, the games will conclude.

And I hope that survival is your favorite flavor

Because history proves the odds AREN’T ever in your favor.

By: Dinah McLean

No Valentine’s Day Plans? No Problem.
Feb 14, 2011

It’s Valentine’s Day! I know, I know, it’s a “fake holiday” trumped up by greeting card companies and you shouldn’t feel forced to show someone affection just so some corporation can make money on manufactured crap, we should all show our loved ones that we care EVERY day, not just Valentine’s Day, blah blah blah.

Get over it. I mean it. Some or all of that sentiment might be true, but taking one day or evening out of 365 to tell your partner, family and/or dearest friends that you love them is nice, and you can do it with or without corporate tie-ins. In fact, I’ve got the perfect hook-up for all of our readers that might have been protesting the holiday, but were really slackers who forgot to make any reservations or plans for their Valentine this evening:

Dinner and a movie.

It’s a classic for a reason, and you can do the whole thing right at home. First, the dinner. If you’re a real hopeless case in the kitchen, then go for take-out or delivery, and just focus on setting a nice table–candles & flowers work just as well on coffee tables as they do in a dining room. If you can at least boil water, then you can make spaghetti. It’s cheap, easy, fast, and you & your partner can do that cute kissing thing from Lady & the Tramp with the noodles. Just go easy on the garlic and the portions–nothing’s less romantic than heartburn and breath that could slay a vampire.

Dessert is also key, and unless either you or your partner is allergic then you gotta go with chocolate. (If you are allergic: salted caramels. YUM.) If you don’t have time to make anything, I recommend a small box of high-quality, rich chocolate truffles (Trader Joe’s makes great ones). If you’re on a budget, forget the cheapo drugstore chocolates in the heart-shaped box and buy a box of brownie mix instead. They’re so easy to make, so yummy and gooey, and baking seriously impresses everyone.

As for picking a movie, well, it depends on your date. Here are my recommendations for a fun and romantic evening with your Valentine tonight.

Romantic Comedies That Aren’t Ridiculously Formulaic And Also Actually Funny: Raising Arizona, High Fidelity, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Definitely, Maybe, Going the Distance

"Marvin Gaye is responsible for our entire relationship." "Is that so? I'd like a word with him then."

Romances With Lots Of Guns: Bonnie & Clyde, True Lies, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet, A Life Less Ordinary, Natural Born Killers, True Romance, Mr. & Mrs. Smith

"That's the way romance is... Usually, that's the way it goes, but every once in awhile, it goes the other way too."

Co-dependent, Unhealthy, Enabling Romances: Sid & Nancy, Leaving Las Vegas, Trainspotting, The People vs. Larry Flynt

"If I asked you to kill me, would you?" "I don't know. How would I do it? I couldn't live without ya."

Movies That Aren’t Technically Romances, But Feature Great Couples: The Mask of Zorro, Lord of the Rings, Rocky, Pirates of the Caribbean, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, WALL-E, Fargo, The Empire Strikes Back

"I love you." "I know."

Classic Romances For Every Generation: Roman Holiday, The Philadelphia Story, Casablanca, Lover Come Back, Annie Hall, Some Kind of Wonderful, When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, Singles

"I've never been alone with a man before, even with my dress on. With my dress off, it's MOST unusual."

Any movies you think are missing? Tell me all about it! Oh, and before I forget:

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

By: Dinah McLean

Click’s 2010 San Diego Comic-Con Survival Guide
Jul 19, 2010

Raise your hand if you’re going to this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego later this week! (Now put it down or people in your office will think you’re weird.) We’ll be there doing some nerdworking* of our own, and we’ve assembled our third annual Comic-Con Survival Guide to help you make the most of this year’s event. Just click here to download the pdf, and it’s all yours!

Click's 2010 Comic-Con Survival Guide

In addition to offering a few tips, tricks and insights into the event, Click’s Survival Guide highlights some of the geekiest upcoming movies, TV shows, comics and toys that we hope to catch a glimpse of at this year’s Con. From Green Lantern and TRON: Legacy to “The Walking Dead” and “Terra Nova,” our guide walks you through nearly 100 of the most buzzed-about entertainment properties that you might come across during the pop-culture circus extravaganza that is the Con.

Why write all this up? The simple answer is this: because we really wanted to. That whole bit on our web site where we call ourselves “geek professionals and professional geeks” is no joke. We love our movies, collectible action figures, games and web TV shows as much as our jobs—and that passion and expertise makes us better at them.

We also built this Survival Guide for our clients, colleagues and friends who go for work and might not be as stoked about all this madness as we are. If we can help even one overworked studio publicist, journalist or blogger have a better time at Comic-Con? Mission accomplished!

While we’re there, we’ll giving away free Survival Kit goodies (Purell, vitamins, superhero bandages, etc.), so be sure to follow us @ClickComm to find out where we are. We’ll be the ones in the awesome t-shirts.

Now download your Guide already, and Enjoy! We look forward to seeing you at this year’s event!

*Nerdworking: Networking with our fellow nerds; coined by our very own Amanda Barnes.

By: Dinah McLean

First! Is it better to be earlier or better? How about both?
May 12, 2010

Last week, Click Communications celebrated its third birthday. In three years we’ve gone from a husband and wife duo to a team of eleven (including our contractors, which we do). We have a smarty pants Advisory Board, and a roster of awesome, fun, high profile clients. Our database of online press is exponentially bigger and stronger than it was three years ago.

At the same time, perhaps you’ve noticed, online marketing and publicity have pretty much exploded over the last three years. Talk about timing! It is more important than ever to have a strong, strategic presence online, and even more important to have partners in the digital space that you can trust.

Because, let’s face it, any schmuck can create a Facebook account and call himself an “Online Expert.” How do you make sure your online partners really know what they’re doing?

A few things to consider:

  1. History – Being first isn’t necessarily most important, but experience counts. Mac McLean has personally been focused solely on online publicity since 2003. Dinah McLean started focusing on primarily online marketing and promotions in 2000. When we founded Click in May 2007, we were one of the earliest online-focused agencies through the gate. A strong history like this means that we can spot trends, know what sticks, and know how to implement the right strategy using the right tools.
  2. Expertise – Integrated online outreach is our core focus at Click, and helping clients realize their online potential has been our primary mission since Day One. This makes Click a leader in the digital space. We can identify a quality site or blog with just a glance, translate target demographics into target sites in our heads, and transform simple assets into fun feature stories. We can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound (yet), but we are always learning, challenging ourselves, and competing with ourselves in order to do better.
  3. Evolution – Click is not the same company we were when we started. Our team is bigger, our list of services is longer, our client list is longer and more diverse, and our press database looks completely different. We’ve achieved all of this because we are flexible, quick to learn, and committed to our education. Every new idea is examined for potential, every setback is a new opportunity,  and every success is shared as a best practice. We roll with the punches and evolve with the times, and are a stronger company for it.
  4. Relationships – Ask online press who they like to work with, and why. Better yet, just check out our testimonials. Our long history with our online partners, combined with the fastest response time in the industry, has made our relationships with our press extraordinarily strong. We have been building these relationships, and our database, with great care, because we know they can make the difference between getting covered or not.
  5. Integration – Is online outreach a function of the marketing department or the publicity department? It varies from client to client. Our team is unique because we speak the language of online, publicity, and marketing, which means we can work with any department with ease. Our integrated approach helps internal departments work together seamlessly to achieve the best possible results with a cohesive, complementary campaign.
  6. Results – If you skip everything else, this is the criteria to examine closely. At Click, we combine quality placement with a high quantity of hits to generate superior results that drive awareness and, ultimately, sales. We measure success by looking at how well we reach target demographics, how timely our placements are, how many quality sites we reach, how many different kinds of sites we reach, how many different assets we had to put to work—we examine everything. And we report these results with great care, making sure they are extremely thorough and capture every hit we place, fully detailed, and, of course, as accurate as possible.

Of course, these aren’t just our criteria. They’re the criteria of the clients we’ve worked with as well. They’re also just the ideals that we’ve chosen to try and live up to. After all, if you built your own company, wouldn’t you try to make it as awesome as possible?

By: Dinah McLean

Click Celebrates Its 3rd Anniversary!
May 7, 2010

Three years ago,there were two of us and a cake.  Now there are 11 of us, but I think this year will be Otter Pops.

Happy Friday!

By: Dinah McLean