Merritt Group Blog

It’s hard to believe that a month has passed since we packed our bags for Vegas to attend the Black Hat 2019 conference. This year, cyber professionals from around the world congregated in the packed halls of Mandalay Bay for this leading security event, now in its 22nd year. 

With more than 269.6 million users and climbing, Twitter has become one of the largest social media platforms in the world, allowing everyone from CEOs to teens to instantly share their thoughts. While sending out a tweet may have a low impact on the everyday citizen, high-profile government officials can share news from the Federal Government in a single tweet, reaching thousands of followers.

From defining controversial technological innovations to relaying empathy during times of crisis, there are many challenges when it comes to successful storytelling in the tech industry. In the latest episode of Merritt Group’s very own Lay of the Brand podcast, we continue the discussion from our panel hosted by George Mason University. You can check out part one of the discussion here.

Does thought leadership still matter to government audiences?

That was the core question that I discussed with Aaron Heffron of Market Connections as part of their webinar series on marketing to the Federal Government. The short answer is yes, but you should still keep reading.

In less than two weeks, thousands of security professionals will flood the halls of Mandalay Bay for Black Hat, all edging to stand out from the crowd and make a name for themselves. Yet, with the cybersecurity industry growing at an unprecedented pace, the task of rising above the noise remains a challenge. So how can marketers get beyond the event buzz and drive awareness among their key audiences? The solution is simple, yet daunting: bold, differentiated and effective storytelling.

What exactly is evidence-based practice, and how can an approach that’s revolutionized other fields like medicine, education and criminal justice be applied to the field of communications?  I had about 30 minutes to discuss this last week during a media relations webinar hosted by the National Association of County & City Health Officials for public information officers from municipalities around the country.  

In my previous blog post, I talked about how to create an effective marketing strategy around 5G innovations. Now, I’ll dive into PR strategies for cutting through the increasing market chatter around this exciting next wave of technology so your product or service doesn’t get lost in the fray.

It’s impossible to avoid the buzz around the rise of 5G in today’s headlines and marketers need to be smart in their approach if they want their fifth-generation cellular network-related technologies to stand out from the crowd. But before we talk about marketing this innovation, let’s first fully understand...What is 5G anyway?

Have you ever wondered whether it’s more important to stick to your company’s core values or shift them to fit society’s evolving standards? According to an expert in the field, you don’t always have to pick one over the other. In a recent episode of Merritt Group’s new Lay of the Brand podcast, we sat down with “The Agile Web” author and host of the The Agile World Podcast, Greg Kihlström to better understand what balancing the two means. 

In case you missed it, Merritt Group recently launched its very own podcast called Lay of the Brand, which explores the latest innovations in marketing, creative and PR and how these disciplines are revolutionizing the way the tech industry communicates and sells.

Following our George Mason University panel podcast highlighted in our previous episode, we sat down with Serge Samoilenko, one of the panelists and a communications professor at the university, and trust us – you won’t want to miss what he had to say.