Qasim Raza

Evolving together In today’s fragmented world, integrating marketing and communications is more than just a trend: it can be a matter of organisational survival. Communication Director MagazineIssue FocusMarketing Today’s fragmented and complex media landscape presents an ever-changing set of challenges to marketing and communications professionals. Confronted by demanding yet distracted consumers on the one hand, and a fast-paced and volatile business environment on the other, marketing and communications professionals are hard pressed to steer consumer behaviour and effectively measure responses to campaign performance. As any experienced business leader knows, developing outstanding products and assembling a highly talented management team only gets you to the starting block. Ultimately, the race for business success hinges on persuading significant numbers of customers to select your company’s products or services over those of other businesses. The question then...

Measurement Resources Guidance for Quantifying Public Relations' Impact on Business Outcomes Measurement and evaluation are critical elements of every public relations practitioner's professional competencies and are central to making a "case" for public relations. Organizations and professionals who understand and believe in the benefits of public relations evaluation are able to: Validate the results of their efforts. Link the results to business outcomes that further the achievement of organizational goals. Credibly merchandise the impact of those results to those who fund public relations programs. Set smarter objectives, develop better strategies and employ more compelling and engaging tactics. Make midcourse program adjustments and corrections. Adapt their measurement approaches over time in light of changing objectives, new competitors and emerging best practices. Coalition for Public Relations Research Standards PRSA has join...

It is at this time of year that SME business owners begin to think about the year ahead and growth goals for their enterprise in the incoming year. PR and Marketing communication campaigns play a critical role in achieving SME business growth, particularly now in the digital marketing era. The problem is evaluating and measuring PR and marketing campaigns has in recent years become more complex – particularly with the continued growth of digital. As technology advances, new methods to measure the effectiveness of that technology need to be developed. This is as true for new digital marketing techniques and technologies as other business technologies. Globally there has over the last 5 years been something of an explosion of new measurement techniques and methods being developed. In this environment choosing the right measurement technique for the right PR campaign objective has become more challenging. A direct consequence of that is it is becoming increasingly important...

Most public relations professionals don’t think their functional namesake will accurately describe their work in the future. That’s according to the 2017 Global Communications Report, from the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at USC.   The report found “87% of PR executives believe the term ‘public relations’ does not describe their future.” Why?   The evolution of digital media has facilitated the integration of previously distinct marketing disciplines.   The lines blurred and responsibilities were woven together – with the benefit of tighter integration. Does this mean the end of the road for the PR?   Will the professional communicator be subsumed permanently by marketing? No, I don’t think that’s the case.   It’s just the opposite. Instead, the approach good PR professionals champion is permeating marketing.   I’m not sure PR pros are ready for this because it dramatically raises bar on what is excellence. ...

Successful marketing communication relies on a combination of the promotional mix. These options include advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and personal selling. As the term suggests, marketing communication functions within a marketing framework. Traditionally known as the promotional element of the four P’s of marketing (product, place, price, and promotion), the primary goal of marketing communication is to reach a defined audience to affect its behavior by informing, persuading, and reminding. Marketing communication acquires new customers for brands by building awareness and encouraging trial. Marketing communication also maintains a brand’s current customer base by reinforcing their purchase behavior by providing additional information about the brand’s benefits. A secondary goal of marketing communication is building and reinforcing relationships with customers, prospects, retailers, and other important stakeholders. Successful marketi...

THE ROLE OF TRADITIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS IN SEO The Role of Traditional Public Relations in SEO An Event in conjunction with PMACC (Phoenix Marketing, Advertising, and Communication Collective). Current link strategies rely on an approach pioneered by public relations. In recent years, Google has refined their algorithms to provide a better user experience for the consumer. Those sites that better address the needs of users simply rank better. We all know that the Penguin update eradicated easy link-building tactics of the past. This means that natural editorial links – from high-traffic, respected websites – are the currency of valued and effective inbound strategies. In this session, we explore how we best EARN these coveted editorial links, and the outreach that effective link building requires. We’ll also discuss current organic search best practices and how they fit hand-in-glove with communications strategy. Panelists will include: Mi-Ai Parrish, the ...

Content Marketing Content marketing has become a relevant marketing concept which in relatively short time acquired the “right of citizenship” in the communications industry. Content marketing is more than production of content. It has become a concept that connects production of content with understanding of the public and technology. Those who know what it’s about say that the role of Content Marketing is to build relationships and trust. A little over ten years since it first appeared as a concept, Content Marketing still raises many dilemmas. We tried to learn what Content Marketing is and what role it plays in the communication process from three Content Marketing experts: Primož Inkert, Lazar Džamić and Borislav Miljanović. Primož Inkert, PM poslovni mediji, Partner A horseless carriage. That’s what people used to call the first cars. It was similar with television, which they used to call radio with picture. The Internet is so young that we still don’t even kn...